Sonchus

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Sow thistles
Sonchus February 2008-1.jpg
Sonchus oleraceus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Cichorioideae
Tribe: Cichorieae
Subtribe: Hyoseridinae
Genus: Sonchus
L.
Type species
Sonchus oleraceus [1] [2]
L.
Subgenera [3]
Synonyms [4]
  • Chrysoprenanthes(Sch.Bip.) Bramwell
  • KirkianellaAllan
  • SonchidiumPomel
  • TaeckholmiaBoulos
  • AtalanthusD.Don
  • WildpretiaU.Reifenb. & A.Reifenb.
  • AetheorhizaCass.
  • EmbergeriaBoulos
  • Phoenicoseris(Skottsb.) Skottsb.
  • BabcockiaBoulos
  • TrachodesD.Don
  • ActitesLander
  • SonchoserisFourr.
  • Lactucosonchus(Sch.Bip.) Svent.
  • Acanthosonchus(Sch.Bip.) Kirp.
  • SventeniaFont Quer

Sonchus is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae [2] [5] and are commonly known as sow thistles (less commonly hare thistles or hare lettuces). Sowthistles are annual, biennial or perennial herbs, with or without rhizomes and a few are even woody (subgenus Dendrosonchus, restricted to the Canary Islands and Madeira). [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

Contents

Description

Sonchus hierrensis in the Canary Island of La Gomera. Cerrajon herreno (Sonchus hierrensis), La Gomera, Espana, 2012-12-14, DD 01.jpg
Sonchus hierrensis in the Canary Island of La Gomera.

The genus is named after the Ancient Greek for such plants.[ clarification needed ] All are characterized by soft, somewhat irregularly lobed leaves that clasp the stem and, at least initially, form a basal rosette. The stem contains a milky latex. Flower heads are yellow and range in size from half to one inch in diameter; the florets are all of ray type. Sonchus fruits are single-seeded, dry and indehiscent. [11] Sow thistles are common roadside plants, and while native to Eurasia and tropical Africa, they are found almost worldwide in temperate regions. [12]

Mature sow thistle stems can range from 30 cm to 2 m (1 to 6 ft) tall, depending upon species and growing conditions. Coloration ranges from green to purple in older plants. Sow thistles exude a milky latex when any part of the plant is cut or damaged, and it is from this fact that the plants obtained the common name, "sow thistle", as they were fed to lactating sows in the belief that milk production would increase. Sow thistles are known as "milk thistles" in some regions, although milk thistle more commonly refers to the genus Silybum .

Species

The following 106 species are accepted by Plants of the World Online as of March 2023. [13]

Invasive

In many areas sow thistles are considered noxious weeds, [14] as they grow quickly in a wide range of conditions and their wind-borne seeds allow them to spread rapidly. Sonchus arvensis , the perennial sow thistle, is considered the most economically detrimental, as it can crowd commercial crops, is a heavy consumer of nitrogen in soils, may deplete soil water of land left to fallow, and can regrow and sprout additional plants from its creeping roots. However, sow thistles are easily uprooted by hand, and their soft stems present little resistance to slashing or mowing.

Most livestock will readily devour sow thistle in preference to grass, and this lettuce-relative is edible and nutritious to humans—in fact this is the meaning of the second part of the Latin name of the common sow thistle, oleraceus. [15] Attempts at weed control by herbicidal use, to the neglect of other methods, may have led to a proliferation of these species in some environments. [16]

Cultivation

Sow thistles are common host plants for aphids. Gardeners may consider this a benefit or a curse; aphids may spread from sow thistle to other plants, but alternatively the sow thistle can encourage the growth of beneficial predators such as hoverflies. In this regard sow thistles make excellent sacrificial plants. Sonchus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera including Celypha rufana and the broad-barred white, grey chi, nutmeg, and shark moths. The fly Tephritis formosa is known to attack the capitula of this plant. [17]

Sow thistles have been used as fodder, particularly for rabbits, hence the other common names of "hare thistle" or "hare lettuce". They are also edible to humans as a leaf vegetable; old leaves and stalks can be bitter but young leaves have a flavour similar to lettuce. Going by the name pūhā or rareke (raraki) it is a traditional food eaten in New Zealand by Māori. When cooked the flavour is reminiscent of chard.

Uses

The greens were eaten by the indigenous people of North America. Edible raw when young, the older greens can also be eaten after cooking briefly. [18]

Related Research Articles

<i>Lactuca</i> Genus of lettuces

Lactuca, commonly known as lettuce, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The genus includes at least 50 species, distributed worldwide, but mainly in temperate Eurasia.

<i>Argyranthemum</i> Genus of flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae

Argyranthemum is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae. Members of this genus are sometimes also placed in the genus Chrysanthemum.

<i>Echium</i> Genus of flowering plants in the borage family Boraginaceae

Echium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae that contains about 70 species and several subspecies.

<i>Mentha arvensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Mentha arvensis, the corn mint, field mint, or wild mint, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It has a circumboreal distribution, being native to the temperate regions of Europe and western and central Asia, east to the Himalaya and eastern Siberia, and North America. Mentha canadensis, the related species, is also included in Mentha arvensis by some authors as two varieties, M. arvensis var. glabrata Fernald and M. arvensis var. piperascens Malinv. ex L. H. Bailey.

<i>Sonchus asper</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Sonchus asper, the prickly sow-thistle, rough milk thistle, spiny sowthistle, sharp-fringed sow thistle, or spiny-leaved sow thistle, is a widespread flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae.

<i>Lactuca serriola</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

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.

<i>Sonchus oleraceus</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae

Sonchus oleraceus is a species of flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae of the family Asteraceae, native to Europe and Western Asia. It has many common names including common sowthistle, sow thistle, smooth sow thistle, annual sow thistle, hare's colwort, hare's thistle, milky tassel, milk thistle. and soft thistle.

<i>Sonchus arvensis</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Sonchus arvensis, the field milk thistle, field sowthistle, perennial sow-thistle, corn sow thistle, dindle, gutweed, swine thistle, or tree sow thistle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. S. arvensis often occurs in annual crop fields and may cause substantial yield losses.

<i>Sonchus berteroanus</i> Species of flowering plant

Sonchus berteroanus, synonym Dendroseris berteroana, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is found only in the Juan Fernández Islands of Chile. It is threatened by habitat loss.

<i>Sonchus <span style="font-style:normal;">subg.</span> Dendroseris</i> Historically recognized genus of flowering plants

Sonchus subg. Dendroseris is a subgenus of flowering plants in the genus Sonchus, family Asteraceae. It was formerly treated as the genus Dendroseris, with one species sometimes placed in Thamnoseris. All the species placed in the subgenus are endemic to either the Juan Fernández Islands or the Desventuradas Islands in the South Pacific, both part of Chile.

<i>Sonchus brassicifolius</i> Species of plant

Sonchus brassicifolius, synonym Dendroseris litoralis, is a species of flowering plant in the daisy and sunflower family Asteraceae. It is a small evergreen tree species known as the cabbage tree. It is endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands, which lie in the southeast Pacific, off the west coast of Chile. It is native only to the tiny, volcanic Robinson Crusoe Island, home of the famed Juania australis and many other endemic plants. The species is threatened by habitat loss and has been brought back from the brink of extinction. It had been reduced to only a few individuals by feral goats on the island, and is still considered critically endangered.

<i>Sonchus marginatus</i> Species of flowering plant

Sonchus marginatus, synonym Dendroseris marginata, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands of Chile. It is threatened by habitat loss.

<i>Sonchus micranthus</i> Species of flowering plant

Sonchus micranthus, synonym Dendroseris micrantha, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands of Chile. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Sonchus neriifolius, synonym Dendroseris neriifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a tree with droopy, elongated leaves and small yellow-white flowers. The plant was originally native to Continental Chile but is now endemic to Robinson Crusoe Island. The plant is endangered and very rare: only two specimens are known to exist in a ravine in the eastern part of the island, although there exist other human-cultivated specimens. It is classified as critically endangered by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Sonchus tenerrimus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name slender sowthistle. It is native to the Mediterranean region of southern Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East. It has been found as well in several other locations around the world, historically in association with ship ballast in coastal regions. It has become naturalized in a few places, such as California in the United States and Baja California in Mexico.

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

Sonchus palustris, commonly known as marsh sowthistle, is a plant native to temperate regions of the Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and Xinjiang in western China. It has also become naturalized in a few locations in the Canadian Province of Ontario.

Amal Amin is an Egyptian botanist.

<i>Sonchus fruticosus</i> Species of plant

Sonchus fruticosus, the giant sow thistle, is a species of flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae of the family Asteraceae. It is endemic to the islands of Madeira. The giant sow thistle is an impressive shrub native to the Madeiran evergreen forest habitat and growing up to 4 metres in height.

References

  1. ↑ Lectotype designated by N. L. Britton & A. Brown, Ill. Fl. N.U.S. ed. 2. 3: 316 (1913).
  2. 1 2 "Sonchus L.". Tropicos . Missouri Botanical Garden.
  3. ↑ Cho, M. S., Yang, J. Y., Yang, T. J., & Kim, S. C. (2019). "Evolutionary comparison of the chloroplast genome in the woody Sonchus alliance (Asteraceae) on the Canary Islands." Genes, 10(3), 217.
  4. ↑ Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist
  5. ↑ Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 793-795 in Latin
  6. ↑ For a recent review of woody species, see Seung-Chul Kim et al. (1996). "A common origin for woody Sonchus and five related genera in the Macaronesian islands: Molecular evidence for extensive radiation." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 93:7743-7748.
  7. ↑ Shi, Zhu; Kilian, Norbert. "Sonchus". Flora of China. Vol. 20–21 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  8. ↑ Altervista Flora Italiana genere Sonchus photos and distribution maps for several species
  9. ↑ Atlas of Living Australia
  10. ↑ Flora Zambesiaca
  11. ↑ R., Walters, Dirk (2006). Vascular plant taxonomy. Keil, David J., Murrell, Zack E. (5th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co. ISBN   0757512143. OCLC   62889410.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Hyatt, Philip E. (2006). "Sonchus". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 19. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  13. ↑ "Sonchus L." Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  14. ↑ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Sonchus arvensis". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team.
  15. ↑ Arthur Lee Jacobson website Archived September 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ Management of common sow thistle, Queensland Government
  17. ↑ White, I.M. (1984). Tephritid Flies (Diptera: Tephritidea). Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects. Vol. 10 pt 5a. Royal Entomological Society of London. pp. 134 pp. ISBN   0901546682.
  18. ↑ Angier, Bradford (1974). Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 208. ISBN   0-8117-0616-8. OCLC   799792.
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