Galeopsis bifida

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Galeopsis bifida
Galeopsis bifida1 eF.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Galeopsis
Species:
G. bifida
Binomial name
Galeopsis bifida
Synonyms [1]
List
    • Galeopsis bifida var. emarginata Nakai
    • Galeopsis bifida var. pernhofferi (Wettst.) Gams
    • Galeopsis pallens Briq.
    • Galeopsis pernhofferi Wettst.
    • Galeopsis tetrahit var. bifida (Boenn.) Lej. & Courtois
    • Galeopsis tetrahit proles bifida (Boenn.) Rouy
    • Galeopsis tetrahit subsp. bifida (Boenn.) Fr.
    • Galeopsis tetrahit var. parviflora Benth.
    • Lamium artvinense Yıld.

Galeopsis bifida is an annual plant native to Europe and Asia but now found in Canada and the northeastern, midwestern parts of the United States. It has many common names such as bifid hemp-nettle, [2] split-lip hemp-nettle, common hemp-nettle, [2] and large-flowered hemp-nettle. [2] The genus name means weasel-like, referring to the corolla of the flower. It is often confused with other species of Lamiaceae such as Mentha arvensis , Dracocephalum parviflorum and Stachys pilosa. [3]

Contents

Distribution

Distribution of Galeopsis bifida in the United States and Canada. GABI3.jpg
Distribution of Galeopsis bifida in the United States and Canada.

Galeopsis bifida is native to Europe and Asia. In the British Isles it is mainly found in Wales and Scotland. It occurs throughout Canada, the northeastern and midwestern parts of the United States, and has been introduced to Alaska. [3] It was also introduced in some parts of New Zealand and the Canary Islands.

Habitat and ecology

Hempnettle mostly grow in disturbed sites, roadsides, gardens, agricultural lands, wet heaths and sometimes in woods. It creates a dense mid-forb layer dominating the regular grass and low forbs. It utilizes limited nutrients and requires moist soil, usually prefers moderate levels of acid and basic soils. [3] [4]

Morphology

Hempnettle could grow up to 1 meter high. Its leaves and flowers are hairy. Leaves are simple, 1 to 5 inches long, opposite, margins are serrate and ovate in shape, pubescent on both sides. The stem is swollen below the leaf nodes. Its flowers can be purple, white or pink and are terminal in axillary clusters. [3]

Flowers and fruit

Structure of its flower Galeopsis bifida.jpeg
Structure of its flower

Like other Lamiaceae, its corolla is bilabiate meaning that it has two lips, an upper lip and a lower lip. The upper lip has one lobe and the lower lip has three lobes covered with hair on the lower side of the lobe. The flowers are bell shaped and bilaterally symmetrical, ranging in size from about one half to three fourths of an inch. The pistil consists of two fused carpels; its stigma is two-lobed. There are four stamens, two long and two short. Its style is solitary. Its flowering time is late summer to autumn. Its fruit is a schizocarp, brown in color. [2] This plant is self-pollinated, each plant with a capacity of producing up to 2,800 seeds which can remain dormant under soil for several years. The seeds are large; dispersal is via mammal fur. Germination occurs when the seeds are brought near to the soil surface [3] and it takes place within a month. [2]

Usage

Oil obtained from the seeds is used as a polish for leather.

Edibility

The seeds of this plant are edible and have been found in large quantities in European archeological sites. [5] A study done on the seeds show no toxicity in mice and high potential for bioavailable antioxidants to humans. [6] According to Samuel Thayer, many people have eaten the leaves mistaking them for stinging nettle; they are not toxic but unpalatable. [7]

Related Research Articles

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

Lamium (dead-nettles) is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, of which it is the type genus. They are all herbaceous plants native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, but several have become very successful weeds of crop fields and are now widely naturalised across much of the temperate world.

<i>Lamium purpureum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lamium purpureum, known as red dead-nettle, purple dead-nettle, or purple archangel, is an annual herbaceous flowering plant. It is native to Eurasia but can also be found in North America.

<i>Rumex crispus</i> Species of flowering plant

Rumex crispus, the curly dock, curled dock or yellow dock, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae, native to Europe and Western Asia.

<i>Apocynum cannabinum</i> Species of plant

Apocynum cannabinum is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows throughout much of North America—in the southern half of Canada and throughout the United States. It is poisonous to humans, dogs, cats, and horses. All parts of the plant are toxic and can cause cardiac arrest if ingested. Some Lepidoptera feed on this plant, such as the hummingbird moth.

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

Teucrium is a cosmopolitan genus of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae, commonly known as germanders. Plants in this genus are perennial herbs or shrubs, with branches that are more or less square in cross-section, leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and flowers arranged in thyrses, the corolla with mostly white to cream-coloured, lobed petals.

<i>Ajuga reptans</i> Species of flowering plant

Ajuga reptans is commonly known as bugle, blue bugle, bugleherb, bugleweed, carpetweed, carpet bugleweed, and common bugle, and traditionally however less commonly as St. Lawrence plant. It is an herbaceous flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to Europe. It is also a component of purple moor grass and rush pastures, a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat in the United Kingdom.

<i>Lamium amplexicaule</i> Species of flowering plant

Lamium amplexicaule, commonly known as henbit dead-nettle, is a species of Lamium native to most of Europe, Asia and northern Africa. Its status in Great Britain and Ireland is disputed; some sources give it as native, while others cite it as an archaeophyte. The specific name refers to the amplexicaul leaves.

<i>Ballota nigra</i> Species of flowering plants in the sage family Lamiaceae

Ballota nigra, black horehound, is a perennial herb of the family Lamiaceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and to central Asia and it can be found throughout Europe. It is also naturalized in Argentina, New Zealand, and the Eastern United States. It blooms in the Northern Hemisphere from May to August.

<i>Lepechinia fragrans</i> Species of shrub

Lepechinia fragrans is a flowering herbaceous shrub known by the common names island pitchersage and fragrant pitchersage. It is a member of the Lamiaceae, or mint family, but like other Lepechinia, the flowers are borne in racemes instead of in mintlike whorls.

<i>Lagochilus inebrians</i> Species of flowering plant

Lagochilus inebrians, known in English as inebriating mint, intoxicating mint, or Turkistan mint, and in its native Uzbekistan by the Uzbek name Bozulbang, is a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae. The genus name Lagochilus is derived from the Greek elements λαγός (lagos) "hare" and χείλος "lip", while the Latin specific name inebrians signifies "intoxicating" — in reference to the use of the plant to prepare a mildly intoxicating tea.

<i>Galeopsis tetrahit</i> Species of plant

Galeopsis tetrahit, the common hemp-nettle or brittlestem hempnettle, is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe and northwestern Asia.

<i>Salvia pratensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Salvia pratensis, the meadow clary or meadow sage, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. The Latin specific epithet pratensis means "of meadows", referring to its preferred habitat. It also grows in scrub edges and woodland borders.

<i>Collinsia verna</i> Species of flowering plant

Collinsia verna, or blue-eyed Mary, is a winter annual that is native to the eastern and central parts of North America but has become endangered in the states of New York and Tennessee. The flowers are bicolored white and blue. It is a plant of valley bottoms and moist bottom slopes, in areas with moderate lighting and requires some shade.

<i>Anisomeles malabarica</i> Species of flowering plant

Anisomeles malabarica, more commonly known as the Malabar catmint, is a species of herbaceous shrub in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of India, and Sri Lanka, but can also be found in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bismarck Archipelago, Mauritius, Andaman Islands and Réunion.

<i>Leucas aspera</i> Species of flowering plant

Leucas aspera is a plant species within the genus Leucas and the family Lamiaceae. Although the species has many different common names depending on the region in which it is located, it is most commonly known as Thumbai or Thumba. Found throughout India, it is known for its various uses in the fields of medicine and agriculture.

<i>Galeopsis</i> Genus of plants

Galeopsis is a genus of annual herbaceous plants native to Europe and Asia. Members of this genus often have common names ending in hemp-nettle or hempnettle. Some species are naturalized in North America and New Zealand.

<i>Phlomoides tuberosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Phlomoides tuberosa, the sage-leaf mullein, is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia; SW Asia and Europe. Enlarged, tuberous roots give rise to erect stems to 150 cm bearing purple-red flowers.

<i>Lamium hybridum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lamium hybridum, the cut-leaved dead-nettle, is a species of Lamium native to western and northern Europe and northwestern Africa. The specific name means 'hybrid'; however, Dominique Villars, in describing the species, did not give his reasons for selecting this name. The English name refers to the deeply cut leaves, unlike the shallower lobes of other related species of Lamium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spring greens</span>

Spring greens, or spring vegetables, are the edible young leaves or new plant growth of a large number of plants that are most fit for consumption when their newest growth happens in the spring. Many leaf vegetables become less edible as they age and bitter, or potentially even toxic, compounds start to form. Harvesting of spring vegetables is common across Native American cultures.

<i>Galeopsis pubescens</i> Species of plant

Galeopsis pubescens, also known as the hairy and downy hempnettle, is a herbaceous annual plant species in the family Lamiaceae, that can be found growing in various European countries.

References

  1. "Galeopsis bifida Boenn". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bifid Hemp-nettle". Naturegate. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Invasive Plants Of Alaska. AKEPIC. 2005. ISBN   0-16-073253-0.
  4. "Galeopsis bifida - Boenn". PFAF. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  5. Thayer, S. (2023). Sam Thayer’s field guide to Edible wild plants of eastern & central north america. Forager’s Harvest.
  6. Olennikov, D. N. (2020). Synanthropic plants as an underestimated source of bioactive phytochemicals: A case of Galeopsis Bifida (Lamiaceae). Plants, 9(11), 1555. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9111555
  7. Thayer, S. (2023). Sam Thayer’s field guide to Edible wild plants of eastern & central north america. Forager’s Harvest.