Old man weed | |
---|---|
inflorescence | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Asterales |
Family: | Asteraceae |
Genus: | Centipeda |
Species: | C. cunninghamii |
Binomial name | |
Centipeda cunninghamii | |
Synonyms [1] | |
Cotula cunninghamiiF.Muell. |
Centipeda cunninghamii is a species of flowering plant in the Asteraceae family. [1] It is referred to by the common names old man weed, being the literal translation of its Koori name gukwonderuk, common sneezeweed and scent weed which were given by European settlers but are increasingly falling out of use. The plant was used by indigenous Australians for its purported medicinal properties. It grows along the Murray River, or generally anywhere there is water, especially low lying or swampy areas. It can be identified by its unique shaped leaf and its pungent scent which is pine-like and minty.
It was first described in 1838 as Myrriogyne cunninghamii by Candolle. [2] [3] It was redescribed in 1874 by Mueller in as Cotula cuninghamii (an invalid name). [2] [4] In 1867, Alexander Braun and Paul Friedrich August Ascherson transferred it to the new genus, Centipeda , thereby giving the species its currently accepted name of Centipeda cunninghamii. [2] [5]
Centipeda is from the Greek word for one hundred feet [6] The epithet cunninghamii honours Allan Cunningham (1791 – 1839), an English botanist and explorer, who collected the specimen in Candolle's first description, [2] [3] and who is primarily known for his travels to Australia (New South Wales) and New Zealand to collect plants and author of Florae Insularum Novae Zelandiae Precursor, 1837-40 (Introduction to the flora of New Zealand). [6]
Centipeda cunninghamii is an erect or ascending, endemic Australian perennial herb of the Daisy family (Asteraceae), glabrous or rarely woolly, about 20 cm (8 inches) high; stems much-branched. [7]
Leaves: Oblong to more less spathulate, they are about 15 mm (1/2 inch) long and 3–4 mm (1/10 inch) wide; margins shallowly toothed or subentire; narrowed to base but petiole indistinct. [7]
Inflorescence: Tiny green globular flowers, that can also be green, red/pink. [6] Heads sessile, usually solitary, ± globose to biconvex, 4–8 mm (1/5 inch) in diameter; involucral bracts ± obovate, 2–3 mm long, apex obtuse, minutely toothed. Female florets usually 6–8-seriate. Bisexual florets 10–30. [7]
Fruit: Achenes clavate, about 2 mm long, apex rounded and glabrous above ribs. [7]
Flowering: mostly spring–autumn. [7] September - February [6]
Fruiting: October - June [6]
Distribution and occurrence: Usually grows in damp areas subject to flooding, on a range of soil types. All subdivisions except NC; all mainland States, New Zealand. [7] New South Wales subdivisions: CC, SC, NT, CT, ST, NWS, CWS, SWS, NWP, SWP, NFWP, SFWP [7] Other Australian states: Qld Vic. Tas. W.A. S.A. N.T. [7] [8] Centipeda cunninghamii has also been encountered in Europe, most likely as a result of inadvertent introduction. [9]
Habitat: Coastal to montane (up to 600 m a.s.l.). Especially common in muddy or silty ground left by receding waters along lake, pond, stream and river margins. Also in muddy hollows within rough pasture, paddocks, tussock grassland, in damp depressions within dune swales and sometimes in similar sites within urban areas. [6]
Propagation Technique: Easily grown from fresh seed and cuttings. Inclined to become invasive. [6]
Centipeda cunninghamii has a long history of traditional use by Australian Aboriginals for wounds, infections and inflammation. [10] Traditional methods of use most commonly involve binding leaves of the plant directly to the forehead or other parts of the body, so that body heat may release the plants oils which are then absorbed into the skin. [10] It may also be taken orally, sometimes mixing it with emu fat or boiling/soaking it in water to create a tea. In cases of oral ingestion, traditional medicinal authorities have cautioned to carefully regulate the dosage as the plant may be toxic if taken in large amounts. [11]
Sonchus is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae and are commonly known as sow thistles. Sowthistles are annual, biennial or perennial herbs, with or without rhizomes and a few are even woody.
Mikania is a genus of about 450 species of plants in the tribe Eupatorieae within the family Asteraceae.
Microseris lanceolata is an Australian alpine herb with yellow flowers and one of three plants known as murnong or yam daisy along with Microseris scapigera and Microseris walteri.
The murnong or yam daisy is any of the plants Microseris walteri, Microseris lanceolata and Microseris scapigera, which are an important food source for many Aboriginal peoples in southern parts of Australia. Murnong is a Woiwurrung word for the plant, used by the Wurundjeri people and possibly other clans of the Kulin nation. They are called by a variety of names in the many different Aboriginal Australian languages, and occur in many oral traditions as part of Dreamtime stories.
Microseris scapigera is a yellow-flowered daisy, a perennial herb, found in New Zealand and Australia. It is the only New Zealand species of Microseris, and one of three Australian species along with Microseris lanceolata and Microseris walteri. It is classified in a group of plants, the tribe Cichorieae, that includes chicory and dandelion.
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Olearia axillaris, commonly known as coastal daisy-bush, coast daisy-bush or coastal daisybush is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to coastal areas of Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with densely cottony-hairy branchlets, aromatic, linear to narrowly elliptic or narrowly lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and small white and yellow, daisy-like inflorescences.
Erigeron karvinskianus, the Mexican fleabane, is a species of daisy-like flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Mexico and parts of Central America.
Acourtia microcephala is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name sacapellote. It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it grows in woodland and chaparral, especially in the coastal mountain ranges.
Calycadenia truncata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Oregon western rosinweed. It is native to western North America.
Centipeda is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae. The genus is primarily native to Australia and New Zealand, with a few species extending the range northward into Asia and across the Pacific to southern South America.
Olearia algida, the alpine daisy-bush is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a shrub with small, crowded, elliptic to narrow egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and heads of white and cream-coloured, daisy-like flowers.
Olearia elliptica, commonly known as the sticky daisy bush, is a shrub in the family Asteraceae and is native to New South Wales and Queensland in eastern Australia. It has scattered, sticky leaves and white flowers in summer and autumn.
Amphiachyris dracunculoides, commonly called broomweed, is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the United States, primarily the southern Great Plains from Missouri to eastern New Mexico.
Erechtites glomeratus, common name New Zealand fireweed, or cutleaf burnweed, or fireweed or Cluster-headed fireweed, is a species of plant in the sunflower family. It is native to Australia and New Zealand, and also naturalized on the Pacific Coast of the United States.
Olearia decurrens, commonly known as the clammy daisy bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to arid, inland Australia. It is a glabrous, sticky, twiggy shrub with narrow egg-shaped to linear leaves sometimes with toothed edges, and white and yellow, daisy-like inflorescences.
Microseris walteri is an Australian perennial herb with yellow flowers and edible tuberous roots, and one of three plants known as murnong or yam daisy along with Microseris scapigera and Microseris lanceolata.
Olearia hygrophila, commonly known as swamp daisy or water daisy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to a restricted part of North Stradbroke Island in south-eastern Queensland. It is a shrub with slender stems, linear leaves and white and yellow, daisy-like inflorescences.
Margaret Beth Gott was an Australian plant physiologist, ethnobotanist and academic who specialised in the use of indigenous plants in south-east Australia.
Taraxacum ceratophorum, also known as the horned dandelion, is a species of flowering plant within the genus Taraxacum and family Asteraceae. This alpine species has a preference for mountainous habitat, where it can be found growing at elevations up to 3000 meters above sea level. It is native to a large portion of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting various countries within Asia, Europe and North America.