Angelica atropurpurea

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Angelica atropurpurea
Angelica atropurpurea NRCS-2.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Angelica
Species:
A. atropurpurea
Binomial name
Angelica atropurpurea
L.
Synonyms [2]
  • Angelica atropurpurea var. atropurpurea
  • Angelica atropurpurea var. occidentalisFassett
  • Archangelica atropurpurea(L.) Hoffm.
  • Selinum atropurpureumLink

Angelica atropurpurea, known commonly as purplestem angelica, great angelica, American angelica, high angelica, and masterwort, [3] is a species of flowering plant that can be found in moist and swampy woodlands, mostly by riverbanks, in eastern North America.

Contents

Description

The plant grows to 6 ft (180 cm) tall. The erect, branching stem is purple, smooth, hollow, and sturdy. The compound leaves are bipinnate, with 3 to 5 leaflets per leaf. The total width of a lower leaf may be up to 2 ft (61 cm), and the leaflets are 0.75–4.5 in (1.9–11.4 cm) long and 0.5–2.5 in (1.3–6.4 cm) across. They are generally ovate with serrated margins, and some are cleft into either shallow or deep lobes.

The plant has white to greenish flowers in umbrella-like umbels. One umbel may have as many as 40 branches and be up to 8 in (20 cm) across. Each flower has 5 petals and measures up to 0.25 in (0.64 cm). [4]

Distribution and habitat

It has been found in eastern Canada (Nunavut, Ontario, Quebec, Labrador, Newfoundland, all 3 Maritime Provinces) and the United States (from New England south as far as North Carolina, and west to Minnesota, Iowa, and Tennessee). [5] The plant grows in swamps, wet thickets, edges of woodlands next to wetlands, marshes, fens, and seeps. It is typically found in calcareous habitats with a consistent moisture. [4]

Ecology

Flowers bloom late spring to early summer. [4] A. atropurpurea is a host plant for the black swallowtail butterfly ( Papilio polyxenes ), the short-tailed swallowtail ( Papilio brevicauda ), and the moths Agonopterix clemensella , Papaipema harrisii , and Idia americalis . [6] The nectar of the flowers attracts small bees. [4]

Uses

The stalks can be eaten like celery and the flavor is similar. Early American settlers boiled parts of the plant to make into candy and added it to cakes. In Europe, it was believed that the plant could cure alcoholism. [7]

The aromatic root of angelica has widespread use as a purification herb among the Native American cultures. In California, it is often burned during a shaman's prayers in a healing ceremony. [8] It has traditionally been held in high esteem by native peoples in Arkansas, who have often carried it in their medicine bags and mixed it with tobacco for smoking. [9] In the Mvskoke Creek tribes of Alabama, Oklahoma, and Northwest Florida, Angelica atropurpurea (known as notossv in the Creek language) has both medicinal and ceremonial uses. [10] Medicinally, notossv is used by the Creeks to: cure back pain in adults; to calm panic attacks or people that are in hysterics; as a vermifuge in children; as well as treating stomach disorders. [10] Mvskoke Creek Ceremonial uses include preventing heat stroke during the Ribbon Dance in the Green Corn Ceremony, aiding ceremonial singers, and to help those in legal trouble. [10]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Angelica</i> Genus of flowering plants

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<i>Zanthoxylum clava-herculis</i> Species of tree

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

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<i>Lomatium nudicaule</i> Species of flowering plant

Lomatium nudicaule is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common names pestle lomatium, barestem biscuitroot, Indian celery and Indian consumption plant. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California to Utah, where it is known from several habitat types, including forest and woodland. It is a perennial herb growing up to about 70 centimetres (28 in) tall from a thick taproot. It generally lacks a stem, the inflorescence and leaves emerging from ground level. The leaves are made up of many dull green, waxy lance-shaped leaflets each up to 9 cm long. The inflorescence is borne on a stout, leafless peduncle widening at the top where it blooms in an umbel of yellow or purplish flowers.

<i>Angelica sylvestris</i> Species of flowering plant

Angelica sylvestris or wild angelica is a species of flowering plant, native to Europe and central Asia. An annual or short-lived perennial growing to a maximum of 2.5 metres (8.2 ft), it has erect purplish stems and rounded umbels of minuscule white or pale pink flowers in late summer.

<i>Caulophyllum</i> Genus of flowering plants belonging to the barberry family

Caulophyllum is a small genus of perennial herbs belonging to the family Berberidaceae and closely related to the Eurasian genera Leontice and Gymnospermium. It is native to eastern Asia and eastern North America. These plants are distinctive spring wildflowers, which grow in moist, rich woodland, it is known for its large triple-compound leaf, and large blue, berry-like fruits. Unlike many spring wildflowers, it is not an ephemeral plant and persists throughout much of the summer. Common names for plants in this genus include blue cohosh, squaw root, and papoose root. As hinted at by its common names, this plant is well known as an alternative medicine for inducing childbirth and menstrual flow; it is also considered a poisonous plant.

<i>Prunella vulgaris</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Zizia aurea</i> Species of flowering plant

Zizia aurea is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the carrot family Apiaceae. It is native to eastern Canada and the United States, from the eastern Great Plains to the Atlantic Coast. The genus is named for Johann Baptist Ziz, a German botanist. The common name is based on the similarity to alexanders, another member of the carrot family from coastal areas in Europe and Northern Africa.

<i>Papilio brevicauda</i> Species of butterfly

Papilio brevicauda, the short-tailed swallowtail, is a North American butterfly in the family Papilionidae.

<i>Zanthoxylum americanum</i> Species of tree

Zanthoxylum americanum, the common prickly-ash, common pricklyash, common prickly ash or northern prickly-ash, is an aromatic shrub or small tree native to central and eastern portions of the United States and Canada. It is the northernmost New World species in the citrus family, Rutaceae, and is the type species in its genus, which includes sichuan pepper. It can grow to 10 meters (33 ft) tall with a diameter at breast height (DBH) of 15 cm (5.9 in). It produces membranous leaflets and axillary flower clusters. The wood is not commercially valuable, but oil extracts from the bark have been used in traditional and alternative medicine, and have been studied for antifungal and cytotoxic properties. The genus name is sometimes spelled Xanthoxylum.

<i>Angelica capitellata</i> Species of flowering plant

Angelica capitellata, synonym Sphenosciadium capitellatum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae. When treated as Sphenosciadium capitellatum, it was the only species in the monotypic genus Sphenosciadium. It is known by the common names woollyhead parsnip, ranger's buttons, button parsley, and swamp white heads.

<i>Angelica dahurica</i> Species of flowering plant

Angelica dahurica, commonly known as Dahurian angelica, is a widely grown species of angelica native to Siberia, Russia Far East, Mongolia, Northeastern China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. This species tend to grow near river banks, along streams and among rocky shrubs. The root of the plant is widely used for its medicinal properties and is known to contain furanocoumarins and angelicotoxin.

<i>Angelica acutiloba</i> Species of flowering plant

Angelica acutiloba is a perennial herb from the family Apiaceae or Umbelliferous. It is predominately in Japan and perhaps endemic (unique). It is now distributed widely and cultivated in Jilin, China, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia.

<i>Thapsia villosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Thapsia villosa, commonly known as the villous deadly carrot, is a species of poisonous herbaceous plants in the genus Thapsia. It grows to about 70 to 190 cm in height. It has pinnate hairy leaves with sheath-like petioles. The flowers are yellow in color and borne on compound umbels. They develop into fruits with four wings characteristic of the genus. It is native to southwestern Europe and northwestern Africa surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The plant was used extensively for traditional medicine since around the 3rd century BC.

<i>Orbexilum pedunculatum</i> Species of legume

Orbexilum pedunculatum, commonly known as Sampson's snakeroot, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family. It is native primarily to the Southeastern United States where it is found in prairies and savannas, often in acidic soil. It is a perennial that produces racemes of flowers in early summer.

<i>Thaspium trifoliatum</i>

Thaspium trifoliatum, commonly called meadow-parsnip or purple meadow-parsnip is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family (Apiaceae). It is native to eastern North America where it is found in many eastern U.S states and in Ontario, Canada. It has a broad natural habitat, which includes mesic to dry forests and woodlands, prairies, bluffs, and rock outcrops.

References

  1. Maiz-Tome, L. (2013). "Angelica atropurpurea". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . IUCN. 208. e.T64263861A67728523. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T64263861A67728523.en .
  2. "Angelica atropurpurea L." www.worldfloraonline.org.
  3. Purplestem Angelica. The Center for New Crops & Plant Products. Purdue University.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Great Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea)". www.illinoiswildflowers.info.
  5. Biota of North America Program 2014 state-level distribution map
  6. "HOSTS - The Hostplants and Caterpillars Database at the Natural History Museum". www.nhm.ac.uk.
  7. Runkel, S. T. and A. F. Bull. Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands. 1979. page 139.
  8. Lyon, William S. (1998). Encyclopedia of Native American Healing. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. p. 16. ISBN   0-393-31735-8.
  9. Vogel, Virgil J. (1990). American Indian Medicine. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 272.
  10. 1 2 3 Lewis, David (2002). Creek Indian Medicine Ways. University of New Mexico Press. p. 155.