Dirca | |
---|---|
Dirca palustris | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malvales |
Family: | Thymelaeaceae |
Subfamily: | Thymelaeoideae |
Genus: | Dirca L. (1753) |
Type species | |
Dirca palustris | |
Species [1] | |
| |
Synonyms [1] | |
DofiaAdans. (1763) |
Dirca is a genus of three or four species of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae, native to North America. The genus is named after Dirce in Greek mythology. The general common name for this deciduous shrub is leatherwood; other names include moosewood, ropebark and the Powhatan-derived name wicopy, referring to its use as a fiber, wigub in the Algonquin languages. The stems of Dirca are exceptionally pliable and the bark is difficult to tear by hand; for this reason, its stems were used by Native Americans in eastern North America as thongs or ropes. The inner bark has cross-linked fibers that are short but strong and flexible. Members of the genus can grow to a maximum height of about three meters, and are often associated with rich, moist woods or slopes above creeks or streams.
D. palustris is a widespread species that grows in scattered populations throughout eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to North Dakota and Oklahoma, and south to Florida. D. occidentalis grows in several counties in the San Francisco Bay area of California. D. mexicana was described in 1995 from one population in northeastern Mexico. In 2008, a fourth species, D. decipiens , was described from several populations in Kansas and Arkansas, at the southwestern limits of the range of D. palustris.
Dirca palustris is occasionally cultivated, although its slow growth seems to prevent its widespread use in horticulture. The shrub can be difficult to recognize because the flowers are small (less than one cm), displayed for only a short period in the early spring, and may be a nondescript greenish-yellow. In the central part of its range, D. palustris is often found growing with the much more frequent spicebush, which also has small yellow flowers that appear before the leaves at a similar time.
Although it is listed as poisonous in some publications because its stems and leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals, its toxicity is not well understood. Caution must be used handling the plant, especially its bark, which causes severe contact dermatitis, with redness, blistering and sores according to ethnobotanists Drs. Steven Foster and James A. Duke, [2] likewise the berries may have narcotic properties, although this claim remains unsubstantiated. [3] Native Americans including the Ojibwe used the inner bark tea as a laxative, however minute doses cause burning of the tongue and salivating. [2] Dirca has phenolic glycosides unique to this plant, which are a chemical compounds with an aromatic phenol ring attached to a structure that splits apart in water into a sugar (glyco) and an aglycan (another compound). [4]
Quercus palustris, also called pin oak, swamp oak, or Spanish oak, is a tree in the red oak section of the genus Quercus. Pin oak is one of the most commonly used landscaping oaks in its native range due to its ease of transplant, relatively fast growth, and pollution tolerance.
Sassafras is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia. The genus is distinguished by its aromatic properties, which have made the tree useful to humans.
Bark is the outermost layer of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines, and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner bark, which in older stems is living tissue, includes the innermost layer of the periderm. The outer bark on older stems includes the dead tissue on the surface of the stems, along with parts of the outermost periderm and all the tissues on the outer side of the periderm. The outer bark on trees which lies external to the living periderm is also called the rhytidome.
Bearberries are three species of dwarf shrubs in the genus Arctostaphylos. Unlike the other species of Arctostaphylos, they are adapted to Arctic and subarctic climates, and have a circumpolar distribution in northern North America, Asia and Europe.
Acer negundo, the box elder, boxelder maple, Manitoba maple or ash-leaved maple, is a species of maple native to North America. It is a fast-growing, short-lived tree with opposite, compound leaves. It is sometimes considered a weedy or invasive species, and has been introduced to and naturalized throughout much of the world, including in South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, much of Europe, and parts of Asia.
Aralia spinosa, commonly known as devil's walking stick, is a woody species of plant in the genus Aralia of the family Araliaceae. It is native to eastern North America. The various names refer to the viciously sharp, spiny stems, petioles and even leaf midribs. It has also been known as Angelica-tree.
Ulmus rubra, the slippery elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America. Other common names include red elm, gray elm, soft elm, moose elm, and Indian elm.
Xanthorhiza simplicissima (yellowroot) is the only member of the genus Xanthorhiza, and one of very few genera in the family Ranunculaceae with a woody stem. It is native to the eastern United States from Maine south to northern Florida and west to Ohio and eastern Texas. It contains the alkaloid berberine, which has a number of traditional and contemporary uses for dyeing and medicine.
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.
Vaccinium ovatum is a North American species of huckleberry in the heather family commonly known as the evergreen huckleberry, winter huckleberry, cynamoka berry and California huckleberry. It has a large distribution on the Pacific Coast of North America ranging from southern British Columbia to southern California. It is a tall woody shrub that produces fleshy, edible berries in the summer. The plant is used for food, natural landscaping, and floral arrangements.
Myrica cerifera is a small evergreen tree or large shrub native to North and Central America and the Caribbean. Its common names include southern wax myrtle, southern bayberry, candleberry, bayberry tree, and tallow shrub. It has uses in the garden and for candlemaking, as well as a medicinal plant.
Palustris is a Latin word meaning "swampy" or "marshy", and may refer to:
Dirca palustris, or eastern leatherwood, is a shrub that grows to a maximum height of about three meters. It is native to the eastern half of North America but abundant only locally. It is most likely to be encountered in the northern part of its range, and is a dominant shrub in some hardwood forests of the upper Great Lakes Region. Rich woods, swampy in some cases, provide its main habitat, and it is occasionally cultivated. The species name, "palustris", means "of the swamps," although it also occurs in well-drained areas provided that the soils are moisture-retentive. It is often hard to recognize because the flowers, which come out just before leafing, last a very short time and D. palustris may be mixed in with the much more frequent Spicebush, which also has small yellow flowers that appear before the leaves and do so at just about the same time in the early spring. Its closest relative, the western leatherwood, lives across the continent in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dirca occidentalis, the western leatherwood, is a deciduous shrub with leaves three to seven centimeters in length. Yellow flowers emerge prior to leafing. It grows on moist and shaded slopes. It is rare and endemic to the San Francisco Bay area of California. Its closest relative, Dirca palustris, lives in the eastern half of North America.
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.
Ziziphus oenopolia, commonly known as the jackal jujube, small-fruited jujube or wild jujube, is a flowering plant with a broad distribution through tropical and subtropical Asia and Australasia. In India, it is mostly found in the deciduous forests of the southern part of the country.
Trichostigma octandrum is a species of flowering plant in the family Petiveriaceae. It was formerly placed in the pokeweed family, Phytolaccaceae. It is native to the Neotropics. It is known in English as hoopvine (Florida), black basket wythe, cooper's wythe, basket wiss or basket with, and hoop with. Common French names include liane pannier or liane a barques. Spanish names include bejuco canesta, sotacaballo, and pabello,. The plant has medicinal and fiber uses.
Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section Populus, of the Populus genus.
Delphinium exaltatum, known by the common name tall larkspur, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Delphinium, part of the buttercup family. Other Delphinium species are also commonly known as tall larkspur, such as Delphinium barbeyi. D. exaltatum is native to the central and eastern United States, where it can be found in Kentucky, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Missouri.
Hypericum foliosum, the shining St John's wort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae. It is a bushy shrub endemic to the Portuguese Azores Islands with golden yellow petals and many stems. The species was described by William Aiton in 1789 and was later placed into section Androsaemum of the genus Hypericum by Norman Robson in 1984. It has a diverse essential oil profile made up mostly of monoterpene hydrocarbons, and significant concentrations of various medicinally useful phenols and carotenoids. Populations of the plant are small in number, but quick to colonize cleared areas like groves, landslide areas, and volcanic ash deposits. It is parasitized by fungus and by moth species, but is not considered endangered by the IUCN. H. foliosum is used in traditional medicine on the Azores for diuretic, hepatoprotective, and antihypertensive purposes. It also has in vitro antibiotic and antioxidizing capabilities.