Amsinckia

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Fiddleneck
Amsinckia eastwoodiae.jpg
Amsinckia eastwoodiae
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Boraginales
Family: Boraginaceae
Subfamily: Boraginoideae
Genus: Amsinckia
Lehm.
Type species
Amsinckia lycopsoides
Species

Amsinckia calycina
Amsinckia carinata
Amsinckia douglasiana
Amsinckia eastwoodiae
Amsinckia grandiflora
Amsinckia intermedia
Amsinckia lunaris
Amsinckia lycopsoides
Amsinckia marginata
Amsinckia menziesii
Amsinckia spectabilis
Amsinckia tessellata
Amsinckia vernicosa

Contents

Amsinckia tessellata Amsinckia tessellata 7740.JPG
Amsinckia tessellata

Amsinckia is a genus of flowering plants commonly known as fiddlenecks. The common name is derived from the flower stems, which curl over at the top in a manner reminiscent of the head of a fiddle. Fiddlenecks are in the family Boraginaceae, along with borage and forget-me-nots. The genus is named after the patrician Amsinck family in honour of the Hamburg head of state and patron of botany Wilhelm Amsinck (1752–1831). [1]

Distribution and description

The fiddlenecks are native to western North America and south-western South America, but they are naturalized in other regions. They are annuals, many of them bristly. Most have an erect stem, whose height varies from 20 to 120 cm. In most species the flowers are yellow, often with an orange tinge. Most are found at relatively low altitudes, below 500 metres.

The seeds and foliage of fiddlenecks are poisonous to livestock, particularly cattle, because they contain alkaloids and high concentrations of nitrates. The sharp hairs of the plants can cause skin irritation in humans. However, the shoots, seeds or leaves of several species were used as food by Native Americans, and the plant also had some medicinal uses.

The species are hard to distinguish, and their ranges overlap; furthermore, several of them have large numbers of slightly different varieties, and several of the species hybridise naturally. To decide which species a particular specimen belongs to, therefore, is likely to require a detailed examination with an identification key in hand.

Species

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<i>Amsinckia grandiflora</i> Species of flowering plant

Amsinckia grandiflora is a species of fiddleneck known by the common name large-flowered fiddleneck. This is a wildflower endemic to California and considered a Critically endangered species on the state and national level. Amsinckia grandiflora is one of four 1248 rare heterostylous species within the genus Amsinckia that have highly restricted distributions from which the more weedy homostylous congeners are thought to have evolved.

<i>Eriastrum pluriflorum</i> Species of flowering plant

Eriastrum pluriflorum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names Tehachapi woollystar and many-flowered eriastrum.

<i>Amsinckia menziesii</i> Species of flowering plant

Amsinckia menziesii is a species of plant in the family Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family.

<i>Amsinckia douglasiana</i> Species of fiddleneck

Amsinckia douglasiana is an uncommon species of fiddleneck known by the common name Douglas' fiddleneck. It is endemic to the coastal Santa Monica Mountains and Santa Ynez Mountains of southern California.

<i>Amsinckia eastwoodiae</i> Species of flowering plant

Amsinckia eastwoodiae is a species of fiddleneck known by the common name Eastwood's fiddleneck. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the varied plant habitat of the hills, mountains, valleys, and coastlines.

Amsinckia lunaris is an uncommon species of fiddleneck known by the common name bent-flowered fiddleneck. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the San Francisco Bay Area, the woods of the coastal and inland mountains just north, and the Central Valley and its San Joaquin Valley.

<i>Amsinckia lycopsoides</i> Species of flowering plant

Amsinckia lycopsoides is a species of fiddleneck known by the common name tarweed fiddleneck or bugloss fiddleneck. It is one of the more common species of fiddleneck. It is native to much of western North America from California to British Columbia. It can be found in a wide variety of areas.

<i>Amsinckia spectabilis</i> Species of flowering plant

Amsinckia spectabilis is a species of fiddleneck known by the common names seaside fiddleneck and woolly breeches. It is native to the west coast of North America from British Columbia to Baja California, where it grows in sandy habitat, including direct coastline.

<i>Amsinckia tessellata</i> Species of flowering plant

Amsinckia tessellata is a species of fiddleneck known by the common names bristly fiddleneck, tessellate fiddleneck, checker fiddleneck, and devil's lettuce.

<i>Amsinckia vernicosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Amsinckia vernicosa is a species of fiddleneck known by the common name green fiddleneck.

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<i>Navarretia leucocephala</i> Species of flowering plant

Navarretia leucocephala is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name whitehead pincushionplant, or whitehead navarretia. It is native to North America, including much of the western United States and central Canada. It generally grows in wet or moist terrestrial habitat such as vernal pools.

<i>Orobanche californica</i> Species of flowering plant

Orobanche californica, known by the common name California broomrape, is a species of broomrape. It is a parasitic plant growing attached to the roots of other plants, usually members of the Asteraceae.

<i>Sidalcea oregana</i> Species of flowering plant

Sidalcea oregana is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common name Oregon checkerbloom.

Amsinckia carinata is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name Malheur Valley fiddleneck. It is endemic to Oregon, where it is known only from Malheur County.

<i>Trillium kurabayashii</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium kurabayashii is a species of flowering plant in the bunchflower family Melanthiaceae. The species is endemic to the western United States, occurring in extreme southwestern Oregon, northwestern California, and the Sierra Nevada of northern California. It was first described by John Daniel Freeman in 1975. The specific epithet kurabayashii honors Masataka Kurabayashi, a Japanese cytologist and population geneticist who first postulated the taxon’s existence. It is commonly known as the giant purple wakerobin, a reference to its conspicuously large, dark purple-red flower, one of the largest of any sessile-flowered trillium.

References

  1. Umberto Quattrocchi (ed.), CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology, CRC Press, 2016, p. 263, ISBN   9781482250640
  2. Malheur Valley fiddleneck (Amsinckia carinata). Oregon Department of Agriculture.