| Iva annua | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Iva |
| Species: | I. annua |
| Binomial name | |
| Iva annua L. 1753 | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
| |
Iva annua, the annual marsh elder [3] or sumpweed, is a North American herbaceous annual plant in the family Asteraceae that was historically cultivated by Native Americans for its edible seed.
Iva annua is an annual herb up to 150 cm (5 feet) tall. The plant produces many small flower heads in a narrow, elongated, spike-like array, each head with 11–17 disc florets but no ray florets. [4] Marshelder has a unique odor when the leaves or pollen are touched, but this odor is not present in winnowed seed.
Cultivated varieties of Marshelder (var. macrocarpa) bred by Native Americans possessed seeds 6-9mm in length; whereas wild-type Marshelder has seeds 3 mm in length on average (not exceeding 4.5 mm). [5]
It is native to northeastern Mexico (Tamaulipas) and to the central and southern United States, primarily the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley as far north as North Dakota. There are some populations in the eastern US, but these appear to represent introductions. [6]
NatureServe evaluated Iva annua in 1998 as globally secure, G5. [1]
Iva annua was cultivated for its edible seed by Native Americans around 4,000 years ago [7] in the central and eastern United States as part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex. It was especially important to the indigenous peoples of the Kansas City Hopewell culture in present-day Missouri and Illinois. The edible parts contain 32 percent protein and 45 percent oil.
However, like its relative ragweed, sumpweed possesses many objectionable qualities which include being a severe potential allergen and possessing a unique odor. Probably for these reasons it was abandoned after more pleasant alternatives (such as maize) were available and, by the time Europeans arrived in the Americas, had disappeared as a crop. [8]
The common sunflower is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the production of cooking oil, as food for livestock, as bird food, and as a plantings in domestic gardens for aesthetics. Wild plants are known for their multiple flower heads, whereas the domestic sunflower often possesses a single large flower head atop an unbranched stem.
Quercus macrocarpa, the bur oak or burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America. It is in the white oak section, Quercus sect. Quercus, and is also called mossycup oak, mossycup white oak, blue oak, or scrub oak. The acorns are the largest of any North American oak, and are important food for wildlife.
Stachys is a genus of plants, one of the largest in the mint family Lamiaceae. Estimates of the number of species vary from about 300, to about 450. Stachys is in the subfamily Lamioideae and its type species is Stachys sylvatica. The precise extent of the genus and its relationship to other genera in the subfamily are poorly known.
Allium canadense, the Canada onion, Canadian garlic, wild garlic, meadow garlic and wild onion is a perennial plant native to eastern North America from Texas to Florida to New Brunswick to Montana. The species is also cultivated in other regions as an ornamental and as a garden culinary herb. The plant is also reportedly naturalized in Cuba.
Cirsium edule, the edible thistle or Indian thistle, is a species of thistle in the genus Cirsium, native to western North America from southeastern Alaska south through British Columbia to Washington and Oregon, and locally inland to Idaho. It is a larval host to the mylitta crescent and the painted lady.
The Eastern Agricultural Complex in the woodlands of eastern North America was one of about 10 independent centers of plant domestication in the pre-historic world. Incipient agriculture dates back to about 5300 BCE. By about 1800 BCE the Native Americans of the woodlands were cultivating several species of food plants, thus beginning a transition from a hunter-gatherer economy to agriculture. After 200 BCE when maize from Mexico was introduced to the Eastern Woodlands, the Native Americans of the eastern United States and adjacent Canada slowly changed from growing local indigenous plants to a maize-based agricultural economy. The cultivation of local indigenous plants other than squash and sunflower declined and was eventually abandoned. The formerly domesticated plants returned to their wild forms.
Lactuca serriola, also called prickly lettuce, milk thistle, compass plant, and scarole, is an annual or biennial plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. It has a slightly fetid odor and is commonly considered a weed of orchards, roadsides and field crops. It is the closest wild relative of cultivated lettuce.
The Riverton Site is an archaeological site located immediately west of the Wabash River and northeast of Palestine, Illinois. The site, which dates from the Late Archaic period, is the type site of the Riverton culture. The Riverton culture, of which only three known sites had been discovered as of 1978, inhabited the central Wabash Valley and had distinct methods of making tools. The remains at the Riverton site can be separated into two areas: a manufacturing area with pits and a significant number of discarded tools, and a residential area with the clay floors of homes. The site was first noticed in the 1950s, and Dr. Frank Winters of the Illinois State Museum began excavations at the site in 1961.
Chenopodium berlandieri, also known by the common names pitseed goosefoot, lamb's quarters, and huauzontle (Nahuatl) is an annual herbaceous plant in the family Amaranthaceae.
Iva is a genus of wind-pollinated plants in the family Asteraceae, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. Plants of this genus are known generally as marsh elders. The genus is native to North America.
Hordeum pusillum, also known as little barley, is an annual grass native to most of the United States and southwestern Canada. It arrived via multiple long-distance dispersals of a southern South American species of Hordeum about one million years ago. Its closest relatives are therefore not the other North American taxa like meadow barley or foxtail barley, but rather Hordeum species of the Pampas of central Argentina and Uruguay. It is less closely related to the Old World domesticated barley, from which it diverged about 12 million years ago. It is diploid.
Helianthus maximiliani is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name Maximilian sunflower.
Sambucus racemosa is a species of elderberry known by the common names red elderberry and red-berried elder.
Eupatorium hyssopifolium, also known as hyssopleaf thoroughwort, is a fall-blooming herbaceous plant native to North America. Like other members of the genus Eupatorium it has inflorescences containing a large number of very small flower heads, each with 5 white disc florets but no ray florets. At 0.5 to one meter tall, it is towards the shorter end of the range of heights found in Eupatorium species.
Artemisia biennis is a species of sagebrush known by the common name biennial wormwood. It is a common and widely distributed weed, so well established in many places that its region of origin is difficult to ascertain. This species is most likely native to northwestern North America and naturalized in Western Europe, and eastern and southern North America.
Oenothera macrocarpa, the bigfruit evening primrose, Ozark sundrops, Missouri evening primrose, or Missouri primrose, is a species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family Onagraceae, native to northeast Mexico and the south-central United States, where it is found in calcareous prairies and limestone outcrops.
Cyclachaena xanthiifolia, known as giant sumpweed, or rag sumpweed is a North American plant species in the sunflower family, Asteraceae. It is the only species in the genus Cyclachaena. Giant sumpweed is believed to be native to the Great Plains but is now found across much of southern Canada and the contiguous United States, though rarely in the Southeast.
Symphyotrichum dumosum is a species of flowering plant of the family Asteraceae commonly known as rice button aster and bushy aster. It is native to much of eastern and central North America, as well as Haiti and Dominican Republic. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach a height of 1 meter.
Symphyotrichum subulatum, commonly known as eastern annual saltmarsh aster or, in Britain and Ireland where it is naturalized, annual saltmarsh aster, is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae native to the eastern United States and the Gulf Coast to Texas. The species grows primarily in coastal salt marshes, although in the Ozarks it occurs as a non-marine weedy variety.
Media related to Iva annua at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Iva annua at Wikispecies
