Tag: Biology

Antennaria Margaritaceum

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Botanical Name : Antennaria Margaritaceum
Family: Compositae/Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Gnaphalieae
Genus: Anaphalis
Species: A. margaritacea
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales

Synonyms: American Everlasting.Antennaria dioica, Antennaria plantaginifolia,Helichrysum arenarium

Common Names : Cudweed. Pearly everlasting, Pearl-flowered, life everlasting

Habitat:Antennaria Margaritaceum is native to North America, Kamschatka and in English gardens. Grows wild in Essex, near Bocking, and in Wales. Cultivated in Whin’s Cottage garden by the writer. It grows in dry hills and woods of various parts of the United States

Description:
Antennaria margaritacea is a perennial plant, with a simple, erect stem, corymbosely branched above. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, acute, 3-veined, sessile, and beneath the stem woolly; the corymbs are many-flowered and fastigiate; the scales of the hemispheric involucre are elliptic, obtuse, opaque, pearl-white, the outer ones only tomentose at the base; beads dioecious; the pistillate flowers are very slender; pappus simple, bristly, capillary in the fertile flowers, and in the sterile club-shaped, or barbellate at the summit. The corolla is yellowish (W. G.).The plant is slightly fragrant, ; it is from 1 to 2 feet in height, and bears yellow and white flowers in July. The leaves are the parts used. They contain a bitter principle and an essential oil.
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Medicinal Uses:

Parts Used: Leaves, flowers, stalks.
The name Antennaria is from the resemblance of the sterile pappus to the antennae of many insects (W.).Anodyne, astringent, and pectoral. A decoction has proved beneficial in diarrhoea and dysentery, and in pulmonary affections. Externally, it forms an excellent poultice in sprains, bruises, boils, painful swellings, etc., and is said to produce sleep when applied externally to the head, even in cases where a poultice of hops has failed. Rafinesque is authority for the statement that the Indians, for a trifle, would allow rattlesnakes to bite them, to show that they could cure the bite at once with this plant.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/lifeve18.html
http://www.henriettes-herb.com/eclectic/kings/antennaria.html

Tags Antennaria, Biology, Botanical name, Essex, Garden, July, United States, Wales

Herbs & Plants

Lavender cotton

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Botanical Name : Santolina chamaecyparissus
Kingdom: Plantae
Order:    Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe:    Anthemideae
Genus:    Santolina
Species: S. chamaecyparissus

Synonym: Santolina.

Common Names:Cotton lavender, lavender cotton (also sometimes called French Lavender, like L. Stoechas)

Habitat :Lavender cotton is native to the western and central Mediterranean.

Description:
It is a small evergreen shrub growing to 50 cm (20 in) tall and 2 to 3 ft. wide. Densely covered in narrow, aromatic, grey-green leaves, in summer it produces masses of yellow, button-like composite flowerheads, held on slender stems above the foliage. The disc florets are tubular, and there are no ray florets.The blooming time is July to August. Zone: 6 to 9

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This plant was once also esteemed for its stimulant properties, and the twigs have been used for placing amongst linen, etc., to keep away moths. All the species of Santolina have a strong resemblance to one another, except S. fragrantissima, which differs in having the flowerheads in flat inflorescences termed corymbs, the flowers all being at the same level, instead of singly at the apex of the twigs.
Cultivation:
This plant is valued in cultivation as groundcover, or as an edging plant for a hot, sunny, well-drained spot, though it may be short-lived. It dislikes winter wetness.

Numerous cultivars have been produced, of which ‘Nana’, a dwarf form growing to 25 cm (10 in), has gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Meri.

Medicinal Uses:
The Arabs are said to use the juice of this plant for bathing the eyes. Culpepper tells us that Lavender Cotton ‘resists poison, putrefaction and heals the biting of venomous beasts.’ It is now chiefly used as an edging to borders, spreading like a silvery carpet close to the ground.

Other Uses:
Cotton lavender has many potential uses. Most commonly, the flowers and leaves are made into a decoction used to expel intestinal parasites. An oil used in perfumery can also be extracted from the plant. Branches may be hung up in wardrobes to repel insects, and leaves are also suitable for use in pot pourri and in herbal tobacco substitutes. In cosmetics it is used as a tonic.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santolina_chamaecyparissus
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/lavcot14.html
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=e527

Tags Biology, Garden, Lavender, Lavender Cotton, Plant, Royal Horticultural Society, Santolina, Santolina Chamaecyparissus

Herbs & Plants

Spiranthes spiralis

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Botanical Name : Spiranthes spiralis
Family: Orchidaceae
Genus: Spiranthes
Species: S. spiralis
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asparagales

Synonyms : Spiranthes autumnalis
Spiranthes is the Greek word for twisted, spiralis is Latin for twisted or spiral.Both refer to the inflorescence.

Common Names:Lady’s Tresses, Autumn lady’s-tresses

Habitat : Spiranthes spiralis grows on dry, hilly fields all over Europe – towards the Caucasus.
Spiranthes spiralis is a palearctic orchid which in Europe blooms in August and September. It is characterised by a spiral inflorescence produced after the leaves have died down. The inflorescence can be very small (as little as 50 millimetres or 2.0 inches high) especially in short grazed grassland. In Western Europe it occurs most frequently in close cropped grassland overlying chalk or limestone.

Description:
Spiranthes spiralis is a short tuberous perennial which reaches heights between 5 and 30 centimeters. The stem is stickily-hairy.The plant has two tubers as storage organs, rarely, one or three. From Autumn two new tubers are formed and the old tubers lowly die off. The shiny oval-elliptical foliage leaves form a basal rosette close to the ground and to one side of the flower-spike. There are from three to seven and they have a length of 1.5 to 3.5 cm and a width of 1 to 1.5 cm. The leaves are often withered by flowering time. The stem leaves are scale-like and overlapping;the bracts are shorter than the flowers.
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The flowers are white, 6-7mm long. There are up to 20 borne in a slender spiral 3 to 12 cm long.The outer 2 sepals are spreading, the upper sepal and the petals fuse to form a tube with the lip. The lip has up-curved edges and is yellowish-green. The edge of the lip is notched and appears viewed up close as frayed.

Medicinal Uses:
A tincture of the root is used in homeopathy for skin affections, painful breasts, pain in the kidneys and eye complaints. click & see

Resources:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/ladtru07.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiranthes_spiralis

Tags August, Biology, Caucasus, Inflorescence, September, Spiranthes, Spiranthes spiralis, Tresses

Herbs & Plants

Autumn hawkbit

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Botanical Name : Leontodon autumnalis
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Scorzoneroides
Species: S. autumnalis
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales

Synonyms: Scorzoneroides autumnalis

Common Names :Autumn hawkbit,fall dandelion

Habitat : Leontodon autumnalis is native range in Eurasia (from Europe east to western Siberia), and introduced in North America.It grows on shores, rocky outcrops, roadsides, paths, wasteland, pastures, yards, lawns, fell tundra meadows, shores, snow-bed sites.

Description:
Leontodon autumnalis is a perennial plant, growing to a height of 4 to 15 inches. The stem is usually branched with many capitula and the leafless are almost glabrous scape.
The flower is single flower-like capitula 1 to 1.2 in. broad, surrounded by involucral bracts. Capitulum flowers yellow (outermost edge usually slightly reddish), tongue-like, tip 5-toothed. Stamens 5. Gynoecium composed of 2 fused carpels. Involucral bracts overlapping in 2–3 rows, hairy–glabrous. Capitula solitary terminating branches, pedicels thickening towards top. Flower with weak, pansy-like, slightly pungent fragrance.Flowering time is July to September.

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The leaves are basal rosette, stalked, stalks winged. Blade lanceolate, glabrous, pinnate (occasionally large-toothed), lobes long, narrow.
The fruit is almost glossy, yellowish cypsela, crowned with feathery hairs.The seeds are long and brown, attached to a parachute consisting of a single row of hairs.

(Leontodon is from Lion’s tooth which describes the shape of the leaves.)

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorzoneroides_autumnalis
http://www.luontoportti.com/suomi/en/kukkakasvit/autumn-hawkbit
https://www.growwilduk.com/know-your-wild-flowers

Tags Asteraceae, Biology, Bract, Eurasia, Flora and Fauna, Leaf shape, Plant, Siberia

Herbs & Plants

Polygonum erectum

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Botanical Name :Polygonum erectum
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Polygonum
Species: P. erectum
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Caryophyllales

Synonym: Erect Knotgrass.

Common Name: Erect Knotweed

Habitat:Polygonum erectum is native Americans as part of the group of crops known as the Eastern Agricultural Complex.(British America, and Western and Middle States.)

Description:
Polygonum erectum is a perennial plant.It grows 10 to 50-(75) cm tall with many to few, non wiry branches.Leaves are smooth, broadly obvate, rather obtuse- 1 to 2 inches long – and about half as broad – either sessile or petiolate. The leaves have distinct veins and entire edges or have jagged cut edges. The pedicels are shorter or equal the length of the calyx and typically longer than the ocreae. Flowers bloom June to September in bunches at axils of the leaves.The closed flowers have a calyx that is typically 3 mm long, green in color and 5-lobed. Flowers in clusters of 1 to 5 in cymes that are produced in the axils of most leaves. The calyx segments are unequal with the outer lobes longer and not keeled and the inner ones narrowly keeled. The tepals are greenish, with yellowish tinting or sometimes with whitish tints. The seeds are produced in fruits called achenes that can be of two different types; one type is dark brown in color with a shiny surface and is broadly ovoid in shape, typically 2.5 mm long. The other achene type is dull brown in color, exsert and ovoid in shape, and 3–3.5 mm long. Late season fruiting is uncommon and if produced the achenes are 4 to 5 mm long .

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Medicinal Uses:
Polygonum erectum is highly astringent as an infusion or decoction; useful in diarrhcea as an injection and in children’s summer complaints; also as a good gargle and a valuable remedy for inflammatory diseases of the tissues.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygonum_erectum
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/k/knorus09.html