Carlina acaulis

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Carlina acaulis
Carlina acaulis 160907.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Carlina
Species:
C. acaulis
Binomial name
Carlina acaulis
L.

Carlina acaulis, the stemless carline thistle, dwarf carline thistle, or silver thistle, is a perennial dicotyledonous flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to alpine regions of central and southern Europe. [1] The specific name acaulis (Neo-Latin for 'without a stem', from Latin caulis 'stem' or 'stalk') and common names are descriptive of the manner in which its flower head rests directly upon a basal leaf rosette. The plant is named after Charlemagne who searched for a treatment against the plague. [2] He dreamed of an angel who told him to shoot an arrow in the sky and see on what plant the arrow would hit. This plant would bring relieve to the plague. The plant the arrow hit was the Carlina acaulis, the roots of the plant were distributed among the population following which the plague diminished. [2]

The spiny, pinnatilobate leaves grow in a basal rosette approximately 20 cm in diameter. The flowers are produced in a large (up to 10 cm) flowerhead of silvery-white ray florets around a central disc. The disc florets are tubular and yellow-brown in colour. To protect the pollen, the head closes in wet weather, a phenomenon folklore holds to presage forthcoming rain. [3] The flowering time is between August and September.

It prefers chalky soils and dry pastures in environments from valleys up to an altitude of 2,800 m.

Subspecies

There are two subspecies: [1]

Uses

The rhizome contains a number of essential oils, in particular the antibacterial carlina oxide. [4] The root was formerly employed in herbal medicine as a diuretic and cold remedy. [5]

While young, the flowerhead bud can be cooked and eaten in a similar manner to the Globe artichoke, which earned it the nickname of hunter's bread.

It is sometimes cultivated as a rockery plant, or dried and hung as a house decoration.

In Basque culture it was traditionally used as symbol of good fortune, fixed into the frontal door of the house and was given by the goddess Mari.

Related Research Articles

<i>Gentiana acaulis</i> Species of plant

Gentiana acaulis, the stemless gentian, or trumpet gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae, native to central and southern Europe, from Spain east to the Balkans, growing especially in mountainous regions, such as the Alps and Pyrenees, at heights of 800–3,000 m (2,625–9,843 ft).

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

Gundelia is a low to high (20–100 cm) thistle-like perennial herbaceous plant with latex, spiny compound inflorescences, reminiscent of teasles and eryngos, that contain cream, yellow, greenish, pink, purple or redish-purple disk florets. It is assigned to the family Asteraceae. Flowers can be found from February to May. The stems of this plant dry-out when the seeds are ripe and break free from the underground root, and are then blown away like a tumbleweed, thus spreading the seeds effectively over large areas with little standing vegetation. This plant is native to the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle-East. Opinions differ about the number of species in Gundelia. Sometimes the genus is regarded monotypic, Gundelia tournefortii being a species with a large variability, but other authors distinguish up to nine species, differing in floret color and pubescence. Young stems are cooked and eaten in the Middle-East and are said to taste like a combination of artichoke and asparagus. The plant also contains compounds that have been demonstrated to be effective against a range of ailments. A large quantity of pollen assigned to Gundelia has been found on the Shroud of Turin, which may suggest that the crown of thorns was made from Gundelia.

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

Carlina is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is distributed from Madeira and the Canary Islands across Europe and northern Africa to Siberia and northwestern China.

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

Carlina vulgaris, the carline thistle, is a plant species of the genus Carlina.

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

Scolymus is a genus of annual, biennial or perennial, herbaceous plants that is assigned to the family Asteraceae, and can be found in Macaronesia, around the Mediterranean, and in the Middle East. All species are spiny, thistle-like in appearance, with flowerheads that consist of yellow ligulate florets, and canals that contain latex. It is sometimes called golden thistle or oyster thistle, and is known as سكوليمس (skwlyms) in Arabic and scolyme in French.

<i>Scolymus hispanicus</i> Species of flowering plant

Scolymus hispanicus, the common golden thistle or Spanish oyster thistle, is a flowering plant in the genus Scolymus in the family Asteraceae, native to southern and western Europe, north to northwestern France.

<i>Bellis perennis</i> Flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Bellis perennis, the daisy, is a European species of the family Asteraceae, often considered the archetypal species of the name daisy. To distinguish this species from other plants known as daisies, it is sometimes qualified as common daisy, lawn daisy or English daisy.

<i>Antennaria dioica</i> Species of flowering plant

Antennaria dioica is a Eurasian and North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a perennial herb found in cool northern and mountainous regions of Europe and northern Asia (Russia, Mongolia, Japan, Kazakhstan, China, and also in North America in Alaska only.

<i>Catananche caerulea</i> Species of flowering plant

Catananche caerulea, or Cupid's dart, is a greyish green perennial herbaceous plant with a basal leaf rosette and conspicuous blue-purple or sometimes white flowerheads, belonging to the daisy family. It is a popular garden plant and is often used in dried flower arrangements.

<i>Knautia arvensis</i> Species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae

Knautia arvensis, commonly known as field scabious, is a herbaceous perennial species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae.

<i>Carduus acanthoides</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Carduus acanthoides, known as the spiny plumeless thistle, welted thistle, or plumeless thistle, is a biennial plant species of thistle in the family Asteraceae. The plant is native to Europe and Asia and introduced in many other areas, where it is sometimes considered an invasive species.

<i>Echinops sphaerocephalus</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Echinops sphaerocephalus, known by the common names glandular globe-thistle, great globe-thistle or pale globe-thistle, is a Eurasian species of globe-thistle belonging to the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae.

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

Gymnarrhena is a deviant genus of plants in the family Asteraceae, with only one known species, Gymnarrhena micrantha. It is native to North Africa and the Middle East, as far east as Balochistan. Together with the very different Cavea tanguensis it constitutes the tribe Gymnarrheneae, and in the subfamily Gymnarrhenoideae.

<i>Carlina corymbosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Carlina corymbosa, common name clustered carline thistle, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the genus Carlina, belonging to the family Asteraceae.

<i>Eucomis pallidiflora</i> Species of flowering plant

Eucomis pallidiflora, the giant pineapple lily, is a bulbous species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae, native to southern Africa. The white to green flowers appear in summer and are arranged in a spike (raceme), topped by a "head" of green leaflike bracts. Some forms reach almost 2 m when in flower. The species is cultivated as an ornamental plant, although it is not hardy in areas where severe frosts occur.

<i>Tetraneuris acaulis</i> Species of flowering plant

Tetraneuris acaulis is a North American species of flowering plants in the sunflower family. Common names include angelita daisy, stemless four-nerve daisy, stemless hymenoxys, butte marigold, and stemless rubberweed.

Catananche lutea, is a woolly annual plant, in the family Asteraceae, with most leaves in a basal rosette, and some smaller leaves on the stems at the base of the branches. Seated horizontal flowerheads develop early on under the rosette leaves. Later, not or sparingly branching erect stems grow to 8–40 cm high, carrying solitary flowerheads at their tips with a papery involucre whitish to beige, reaching beyond the yellow ligulate florets. Flowers are present between April and June. This plant is unique for the five different types of seed it develops, few larger seeds from the basal flowerheads, which remain in the soil, and smaller seeds from the flowerheads above ground that may be spread by the wind or remain in the flowerhead when it breaks from the dead plant. This phenomenon is known as amphicarpy. The seeds germinate immediately, but in one type, germination is postponed. It naturally occurs around the Mediterranean. Sources in English sometimes refer to this species as yellow succory.

<i>Felicia fruticosa</i> A shrublet in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia fruticosa is a strongly branching shrub of up to 1.3 metres high that is assigned to the family Asteraceae with flower heads consisting of about twenty purple to white ray florets encircling many yellow disc florets, and small flat, entire and hairless leathery leaves. Two subspecies are recognized. Felicia fruticosa subsp. brevipedunculata, from the Limpopo Province of South Africa is up to 1.3 metres tall and has longer leaves of 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long and 2 millimetres (0.079 in) wide and nearly seated pale violet to white flower heads. Felicia fruticosa subsp. fruticosa, from the Western Cape province of South Africa, is no more than 1 m and has shorter leaves of 1.25 centimetres (0.49 in) long and 2.5 millimetres (0.098 in) wide with flower heads on largely leafless, about 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long stems. It is sometimes called bosastertjie in Afrikaans. In the wild, flower occurs from August till October.

<i>Felicia bellidioides</i> A perennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia bellidioides is a perennial plant of up to about 25 cm (10 in) high, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. Most of the narrowly inverted egg-shaped leaves are silky hairy and in a basal rosette with no or few very narrow bracts on the stalk in the subspecies bellidioides. In the subspecies foliosa, the narrower leaves are not silky hairy but variously bristly and glandular, with more and larger bracts on the inflorescence stalk. The flowerheads sit individually on top of a long peduncle and consist of an involucre with only two worls of bracts, about twenty purplish blue ray florets, surrounding many yellow disc florets. It occurs in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

<i>Felicia tenella</i> A annual or biennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia tenella is an annual, sometimes biennial, herbaceous plant that may be slightly woody at its base, of 5–70 cm tall, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. The species is very variable in size and hairiness. Its branches may be erect or ascending, and the leaves are narrowly line-shaped, 2–5 cm long and about 1 mm (0.04 in) wide. The leaves have a callous tip, lack visible nerves, and are mostly rigidly ciliate. The flower heads sit individually at the tip of stalks, have an involucre of three whorls of bracts, and about thirty light blue ray florets surrounding many yellow disc florets. Four subspecies are recognised. The species naturally occurs in the Northern Cape and Western Cape provinces of South Africa.

References

  1. 1 2 Flora Europaea: Carlina acaulis , retrieved 2008-01-21
  2. 1 2 Rieder, Marilise; Suter, Rudolf (1979). Basilea botanica (in German). Birkhäuser Verlag. p. 15. ISBN   3764310960.
  3. Botany Online, Carlina acaulis, weather clock, archived from the original on 2007-06-11, retrieved 2008-01-21
  4. Florkin, Marcel, Comprehensive Biochemistry, Elsevier, p. 216
  5. Harborne, Jeffrey B. (30 August 2001), Chemical Dictionary of Economic Plants, Wiley, p. 12, ISBN   0-471-49226-4