Pimpinella major

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Pimpinella major
Apiaceae - Pimpinella major-1.JPG
Inflorescence of Pimpinella major, lateral view
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Pimpinella
Species:
P. major
Binomial name
Pimpinella major
Synonyms
  • Pimpinella magna L.,
  • Pimpinella saxifraga L. var. major L.
  • Pimpinella major subsp. sambucifolia S.E. Fröhner

Pimpinella major, common name greater burnet-saxifrage [1] or hollowstem burnet saxifrage, [2] is a herbaceous perennial plant in the genus Pimpinella belonging to the carrot family (Apiaceae).

Contents

Description

Pimpinella major reaches on average 30–100 cm (10–40 in) in height. The stem is hollow, deeply grooved, mostly glabrous, and generally branched and leafy.

The leaves are dark green, slightly glossy, ovate or oblong, short-stalked, feathery, more or less deeply cut, and usually pointed. Basal leaves have a petiole 20–60 cm (8–20 in) long.

The inflorescence has a diameter of 50–60 mm (2.0–2.4 in). The flowers, usually hermaphrodite, range from white to glowing rose or soft-pink and are gathered in umbels with 11 to 16 stalks.

The flowering period extends from June to August in its native habitat. The fruits are ovoid, 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) long.

Subspecies

Also known as big red burnet, it is characterized by low growth and intense rose-colored petals. The stem is usually branched at the base, the branches are short and generally carry only one umbel.

Distribution

Pimpinella major is widespread in central Europe and in the Caucasus and it is naturalized in North America.

Habitat

It grows in burned forests, clearings, herb-rich areas, meadows, waysides, and wooded pastures. It prefers nutrient-rich substrate and chalk and limestone soils, at an altitude of 0–2,300 m (0–7,546 ft) above sea level.

Uses

The roots of Pimpinella major have been used internally in Austrian traditional medicine - as a tisane, in milk, or in herbal liqueurs - for the treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract, fever, infections, colds, and influenza. [3]

Related Research Articles

Inflorescence Term used in botany to describe a cluster of flowers

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed. The modifications can involve the length and the nature of the internodes and the phyllotaxis, as well as variations in the proportions, compressions, swellings, adnations, connations and reduction of main and secondary axes. One can also define an inflorescence as the reproductive portion of a plant that bears a cluster of flowers in a specific pattern.

<i>Saxifraga</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Saxifragaceae (saxifrages)

Saxifraga is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 440 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word saxifraga means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin saxum + frangere. It is usually thought to indicate a medicinal use for treatment of urinary calculi, rather than breaking rocks apart.

<i>Plantago lanceolata</i> Species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae

Plantago lanceolata is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is known by the common names ribwort plantain, narrowleaf plantain, English plantain, ribleaf, lamb's tongue, and buckhorn. It is a common weed on cultivated or disturbed land.

<i>Chlorophytum comosum</i> Species of flowering plant

Chlorophytum comosum, usually called spider plant but also known as spider ivy, ribbon plant, and hen and chickens is a species of evergreen perennial flowering plant. It is native to tropical and southern Africa, but has become naturalized in other parts of the world, including western Australia. Chlorophytum comosum is easy to grow as a houseplant; variegated forms are the most popular.

<i>Sambucus ebulus</i> Species of flowering plant

Sambucus ebulus, also known as danewort, dane weed, danesblood, dwarf elder or European dwarf elder, walewort, dwarf elderberry, elderwort and blood hilder, is a herbaceous species of elder, native to southern and central Europe and southwest Asia. The species is a well-established archaeophyte in much of the UK, and is also reportedly naturalized in parts of North America.

<i>Elymus repens</i> Species of grass

Elymus repens, commonly known as couch grass, is a very common perennial species of grass native to most of Europe, Asia, the Arctic biome, and northwest Africa. It has been brought into other mild northern climates for forage or erosion control, but is often considered a weed.

<i>Pimpinella saxifraga</i> Species of flowering plant

Pimpinella saxifraga, known as burnet-saxifrage, solidstem burnet saxifrage, lesser burnet is a plant species in the family Apiaceae, a native of the British Isles and temperate Europe and Western Asia. It is neither a burnet, which its leaves resemble, nor a saxifrage although it has a similar herbal effect as a diuretic.

<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 but less commonly as St. Lawrence plant. It is an herbaceous flowering plant, in the mint family, native to Europe. It is invasive in parts of North America. Ajuga reptans is also a component of purple moor grass and rush pastures, a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat in the United Kingdom.

<i>Saxifraga stolonifera</i> Species of flowering plant

Saxifraga stolonifera is a perennial flowering plant known by several common names, including creeping saxifrage, strawberry saxifrage, creeping rockfoil, Aaron's beard, mother of thousands, roving sailor, wandering Jew, and strawberry begonia or strawberry geranium.

<i>Laserpitium latifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

Laserpitium latifolium, common name broad-leaved sermountain, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the genus Laserpitium of the family Apiaceae.

<i>Astilbe chinensis</i> Species of plant

Astilbe chinensis, commonly known as false goat's beard, tall false-buck's-beard or Chinese astilbe, is a plant in the saxifrage family, Saxifragaceae. It is commonly grown in shade gardens.

<i>Eriogonum flavum</i> Species of wild buckwheat

Eriogonum flavum is a species of wild buckwheat.

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

A. genevensis is a herbaceous flowering plant native to Europe. It is less common than its relative, Ajuga reptans.

<i>Stellaria pallida</i> species of flowering plant in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae

Stellaria pallida, commonly known as lesser chickweed, is an annual herbaceous plant in the flowering plant family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Europe and is an introduced species in North America.

<i>Astrantia minor</i> Species of flowering plant

Astrantia minor, the lesser masterwort, is a species of herbaceous plant belonging to the family of Apiaceae. It is native within Europe, to the countries of France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. It is clump-forming herbaceous perennial.

<i>Thapsia villosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Thapsia villosa, commonly known as the villous deadly carrot, is a species of poisonous herbaceous plants in the genus Thapsia. It grows to about 70 to 190 cm in height. It has pinnate hairy leaves with sheath-like petioles. The flowers are yellow in color and borne on compound umbels. They develop into fruits with four wings characteristic of the genus. It is native to southwestern Europe and northwestern Africa surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The plant was used extensively for traditional medicine since around the 3rd century BC.

Pimpinella cypria, common name Cyprus burnet-saxifrage and locally Kıbrıs Pimpinela, is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the family Apiaceae.

<i>Astrantia major</i> Species of flowering plant

Astrantia major, the great masterwort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to central and eastern Europe. Growing to 90 cm (35 in) tall by 45 cm (18 in) broad, it is an herbaceous perennial, much used in gardens.

<i>Ceropegia candelabrum</i> Species of plant

Ceropegia candelabrum is the type species in its genus of plants, belonging the subfamily Asclepiadoideae. The specific epithet is derived from the candelabra-like appearance of the inflorescences.

<i>Plicosepalus sagittifolius</i> Species of mistletoe

Plicosepalus sagittifolius is a woody, photosynthesising, parasitic plant species that grows on the branches of mostly Acacia-species, by means of tapping roots. It has glaucus, leathery, entire, 1–6 cm long leaves set oppositely along the stem, with umbels of initially long up-curved pale greenish-yellow buds, that open explosively, the petals usually bright yellow, strongly curling, long stamens and style clear red, orange or pink, and quickly falling after fertilisation. The initially green oval berries color red when ripe. The species is assigned to the showy mistletoe family. In the Afar language it is called hatote, while the vernacular name in the Oromo language is dertu dedacha.

References

  1. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. "Pimpinella major". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA . Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  3. Vogl, S; Picker, P; Mihaly-Bison, J; Fakhrudin, N; Atanasov, AG; Heiss, EH; Wawrosch, C; Reznicek, G; Dirsch, VM; Saukel, J; Kopp, B (2013). "Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine - An unexplored lore in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs". J Ethnopharmacol. 149: 750–71. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007. PMC   3791396 . PMID   23770053.