Lycopus europaeus

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Gypsywort
Wolfspoot R0012816.JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Lycopus
Species:
L. europaeus
Binomial name
Lycopus europaeus
L.
Synonyms [1]
  • Lycopus alboroseusGilib. nom. inval.
  • Lycopus albusMazziari
  • Lycopus aquaticusMoench
  • Lycopus decrescensK.Koch
  • Lycopus laciniatusMarz.-Penc. ex Pollini
  • Lycopus menthifoliusMabille
  • Lycopus mollisA.Kern.
  • Lycopus nigerGueldenst.
  • Lycopus palustrisBurm.f.
  • Lycopus ripariusSalisb. nom. illeg.
  • Lycopus solanifoliusLojac.
  • Lycopus soulieiSennen
  • Lycopus vulgarisPers.

Lycopus europaeus, common names gypsywort, gipsywort, bugleweed, European bugleweed and water horehound, is a perennial plant in the genus Lycopus , native to Europe and Asia, and naturalized elsewhere. [2] Another species, Lycopus americanus has also been erroneously called L. europaeus. [3]

Contents

Lycopus europeaus, Prague Lycopus europaeus Prague 2012 3.jpg
Lycopus europeaus, Prague

Description

Gypsywort is a rather straggly perennial plant with slender underground runners and grows to a height of about 20 to 80 cm (8 to 31 in). The stalkless or short-stalked leaves are in opposite pairs. The leaf blades are hairy, narrowly lanceolate-ovate, sometimes pinnately-lobed, and with large teeth on the margin. The inflorescence forms a terminal spike and is composed of dense whorls of white or pale pink flowers. The calyx has five lobes and the corolla forms a two-lipped flower about 4 mm (0.16 in) long with a fused tube. The upper lip of each flower is slightly convex with a notched tip and the lower lip is three-lobed, the central lobe being the largest and bearing a red "nectar mark" to attract pollinating insects. There are two stamens, the gynoecium has two fused carpels and the fruit is a four-chambered schizocarp. [4] The flowers are visited by many types of insects, and can be characterized by a generalized pollination syndrome. [5]

Habitat

Gypsywort grows primarily in wetland areas. It grows along the borders of lakes, ponds and streams as well as in canals and marshes. Its carpels float which may aid dispersal of the plant and its rhizomeous roots also allow the plant to spread. [4] It is in flower from June to September, and produces seeds from August to October.

Etymology and folklore

It is reputed to have medicinal qualities [2] [6] [7] [8] and has been used by various peoples as a dye, astringent, cosmetic, douche and narcotic.[ citation needed ] Several research studies have been undertaken on the properties of this plant.[ vague ] [9]

Rembert Dodoens wrote of the names of the plant in the 1578 English translation [10] of his original book published in 1563, as the fourth among the group of horehounds “…: in Brabant water Andoren, and of some Egyptenaers cruyt, that is to say, the Egyptians herbe, bycause of the Rogues and runnegates which call themselves Egyptians, do colour themselves blacke with this herbe.” The Brabant original seems to suggest it was used by itinerant non-Roma who were pretending to be Romani people by darkening their skin. [11] He also wrote that water horehound was not used in medicine. [10] Through time it often came to be said that name gypsywort comes from the belief that Romani people would stain their skin with the juice of the plant, although Howard (1987) states that they used it to dye their linen. [7] [8] [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asteraceae</span> Large family of flowering plants

The family Asteraceae, with the original name Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae were first described in the year 1740. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger family is unclear as the quantity of extant species in each family is unknown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stamen</span> Male organ of a flower

The stamen is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium.

<i>Sorbus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the rose family Rosaceae

Sorbus is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of Sorbus (s.l.) are commonly known as whitebeam, rowan, mountain-ash and service tree. The exact number of species is disputed depending on the circumscription of the genus, and also due to the number of apomictic microspecies, which some treat as distinct species, but others group in a smaller number of variable species. Recent treatments classify Sorbus in a narrower sense to include only the pinnate leaved species of subgenus Sorbus, raising several of the other subgenera to generic rank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rembert Dodoens</span> Flemish physician and botanist (1517–1585)

Rembert Dodoens was a Flemish physician and botanist, also known under his Latinized name Rembertus Dodonaeus. He has been called the father of botany. The standard author abbreviation Dodoens is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

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

The scarlet gourds are a genus with 25 species. It is distributed in sub-Saharan Africa and with one species, C. grandis also in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and it is also introduced into the New World. Incidentally, C. grandis is also a cultivated crop and it is used for culinary and medical purposes.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stigma (botany)</span> Part of a flower

The stigma is the receptive tip of a carpel, or of several fused carpels, in the gynoecium of a flower.

<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 invasive in parts of North America. 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 common henbit, or greater henbit, is a species of Lamium native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa.

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

Lycopus is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family Lamiaceae. The many species are known as water horehound, gypsywort, and bugleweed and are native to Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. The species are most often found in wetlands, damp meadows, and stream banks. Some of the wetland species have become endangered.

<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>Asarum caudatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Asarum caudatum is a plant native to rich moist forests of western North America. It has heart-shaped leaves and a three-lobed purplish flower.

<i>Stachys palustris</i> Species of flowering plant

Stachys palustris, commonly known as marsh woundwort, marsh betony, clown's woundwort, clown's heal-all, marsh hedgenettle, or hedge-nettle, is an edible perennial grassland herb growing to 80 centimeters tall. It is native to parts of Eurasia but has been introduced to North America. The species epithet palustris is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat.

<i>Stachys sylvatica</i> Species of herb

Stachys sylvatica, commonly known as hedge woundwort, whitespot, or sometimes as hedge nettle, is a perennial herbaceous plant growing to 80 cm (31 in) tall in woodland and unmanaged grassland. In temperate zones of the northern hemisphere it flowers in July and August. The flowers are purple. The leaves, when crushed or bruised, give off an unpleasant fetid smell.

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

Ajuga pyramidalis, commonly known as pyramidal bugle, is a flowering plant of the genus Ajuga in the family Lamiaceae. It is a native plant in Europe.

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

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, split-lip hemp-nettle, common hemp-nettle, and large-flowered hemp-nettle. 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.

L. europaeus may refer to:

<i>Angelica acutiloba</i> Species of flowering plant

Angelica acutiloba is a perennial herb from the family Apiaceae or Umbelliferous. It is predominately in Japan and perhaps endemic (unique). It is now distributed widely and cultivated in Jilin, China, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia.

<i>Valerianella radiata</i> Species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae

Valerianella radiata, synonyms Valerianella stenocarpa and Valerianella woodsiana, common name beaked cornsalad, is a plant native to the United States. It is an annual self pollinating flowering plant and besides being edible there are no known uses. Valerianella radiata flowers from April- May.

References

  1. "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species, entry for Lycopus europaeus L." Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Lycopus europaeus". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  3. "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species, entry for Lycopus europaeus Walter" . Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Gipsywort: Lycopus europaeus". NatureGate. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  5. Van Der Kooi, C. J.; Pen, I.; Staal, M.; Stavenga, D. G.; Elzenga, J. T. M. (2015). "Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers". Plant Biology. 18 (1): 56–62. doi:10.1111/plb.12328. PMID   25754608.
  6. Lycopus europaeus (Lamiaceae) - Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
  7. 1 2 Plants for a Future Database of Edible and Medicinal Plants
  8. 1 2 Henriette's Herbal
  9. List of articles from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health
  10. 1 2 Dodoens, Rembert; Lyte, Henry (1578). A Nievve Herball;…. London: Mr Gerard Dewes, St Paul's Churchyard at the sign of the Swan. pp. 255–258. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  11. Dodoens, Rembert (1563). Crŭÿde boeck :... Thantwerpen: Jan vander Loe, Cammerstrate at the sign of the Scarab. pp. ccvv–ccvvi. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  12. Howard, Michael. Traditional Folk Remedies (Century, 1987) p.151