Teucrium canadense | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Lamiaceae |
Genus: | Teucrium |
Species: | T. canadense |
Binomial name | |
Teucrium canadense | |
Varieties [2] | |
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Teucrium canadense, commonly known as Canada germander, [3] American germander, [1] or wood sage, [4] is a perennial herb in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to North America where it is found across the contiguous states of the United States and in much of Canada.
American germander is a robust perennial plant with a fibrous root system, forming clumps up to 3 ft (90 cm) tall. The upright squarish stems have small side branches, and send out rhizomes at the base. The leaves are opposite, stemmed lower on the plant and unstemmed on the upper sections of the stalk. They are ovate or lanceolate, deeply veined and coarsely toothed, up to 5 in (13 cm) long and 2.5 in (6 cm) wide. [5]
The terminal inflorescence is a raceme up to 8 in (20 cm) long containing numerous whitish or pale lilac lipped flowers with large shelf-like lower lips. The plant is in bloom from about mid-June for about a month, blooming from the bottom of the raceme upward. [6] The flowers have no scent. The fruits contain four roundish yellowish brown seeds. [7]
The species is native to North America. Its range extends throughout the 48 contiguous states of the United States, and it is also present in much of Canada. [8] It is a common plant, growing in moist grassland, at the edges of forests, in thickets, on river verges and at the edges of marshes. It also grows on wasteland, in poorly-drained areas and beside roadside ditches, and can be somewhat aggressive. [5]
The flowers of American germander are adapted for pollination by insects with long tongues, the lower lip providing a platform on which the insects can land. Pollinators include bumblebees, honey bees, digger bees, cuckoo bees and megachilid bees, and the flowers are also visited by flies and butterflies and occasionally by hummingbird moths and hummingbirds. [5] The foliage is unappealing to grazing animals because of its bitter taste. [5]
American germander contains a number of chemicals with pharmacological properties, such as flavinoids, diterpenoids, tannins, bitter aromatics, volatile oils and glycosides, including saponins. The earliest known use of the plant was by Native Americans who ground the leaves to prepare a herbal tea for use as a diuretic and to promote sweating. The green parts of the plant are also used as an antiseptic wound dressing and made into a tincture for gargling. [9]
The genus Teucrium honors King Teucer, king of Troy, who was first to use one of the species of plants to relieve stomach pain and gout. The specific epithet canadense refers to the plant being native (in part) to Canada. [10]
Polemonium reptans is a perennial herbaceous plant native to eastern North America. Common names include spreading Jacob's ladder, creeping Jacob's ladder, false Jacob's ladder, abscess root, American Greek valerian, blue bells, stairway to heaven, and sweatroot.
Monarda is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. The genus is endemic to North America. Common names include bergamot, bee balm, horsemint, and oswego tea, the first being inspired by the fragrance of the leaves, which is reminiscent of bergamot orange. The genus was named for the Spanish botanist Nicolás Monardes, who wrote a book in 1574 describing plants of the New World.
Cornus canadensis is a species of flowering plant in the dogwood family Cornaceae, native to eastern Asia and North America. Common names include Canadian dwarf cornel, Canadian bunchberry, quatre-temps, crackerberry, and creeping dogwood. Unlike its relatives, which are for the most part substantial trees and shrubs, C. canadensis is a creeping, rhizomatous perennial growing to about 20 centimetres tall.
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.
Erythranthe guttata, with the common names seep monkeyflower and common yellow monkeyflower, is a yellow bee-pollinated annual or perennial plant. It was formerly known as Mimulus guttatus.
Maianthemum canadense is an understory perennial flowering plant, native to Canada and the northeastern United States, from Yukon and British Columbia east to Newfoundland, into St. Pierre and Miquelon. It can be found growing in both coniferous and deciduous forests. The plant appears in two forms, either as a single leaf rising from the ground with no fruiting structures or as a flowering/fruiting stem with two to three leaves. Flowering shoots have clusters of 12–25 starry-shaped, white flowers held above the leaves.
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.
Passiflora lutea, commonly known as yellow passionflower, is a flowering perennial vine in the family Passifloraceae, native to the central and eastern United States. The vine has three-lobed leaves and small, yellowish-green, fringed flowers that appear in the summer, followed by green fruit that turn almost black at maturity. It grows in moist to wet habitats.
Anemonastrum canadense, synonym Anemone canadensis, the Canada anemone, round-headed anemone, round-leaf thimbleweed, meadow anemone, windflower, or crowfoot, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae. It is native to moist meadows, thickets, streambanks, and lakeshores in North America, spreading rapidly by underground rhizomes. It is valued for its white flowers.
Liatris aspera is a perennial wildflower in the Asteraceae family that is found in central to eastern North America in habitats that range from mesic to dry prairie and dry savanna.
Desmodium canadense is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is native to eastern North America. Its common names include showy tick-trefoil, Canadian tick-trefoil, and Canada tickclover.
Teucrium scorodonia, common name the woodland germander or wood sage, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Teucrium of the family Lamiaceae. It is native to Western Europe and Tunisia, but cultivated in many places as an ornamental plant in gardens, and naturalized in several regions.
Scutellaria lateriflora, is a hardy perennial herb of the mint family, Lamiaceae, native to North America.
Salvia is the largest genus of plants in the sage family Lamiaceae, with nearly 1,000 species of shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and annuals. Within the Lamiaceae, Salvia is part of the tribe Mentheae within the subfamily Nepetoideae. One of several genera, commonly referred to as sage, it includes two widely used herbs, Salvia officinalis and Salvia rosmarinus.
Agastache foeniculum, commonly called anise hyssop, blue giant hyssop, Fragrant giant hyssop, or the lavender giant hyssop, is a species of perennial plant in the mint family (Lamiaceae). This plant is native to much of north-central and northern North America. It is tolerant of deer and drought, and is visited by many pollinators.
Blephilia hirsuta, commonly known as hairy wood-mint or hairy pagoda plant, is a species of herbaceous perennial in the mint family Lamiaceae. It is native to eastern North America.
Teucrium racemosum, also commonly referred to as either the grey germander or forest germander, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is endemic to Australia and is found in all mainland states, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. It grows in floodplains, dry lake beds and open woodlands. A perennial herb, it has four-sided, densely hairy stems, narrow egg-shaped leaves, and white flowers usually arranged singly in leaf axils. It grows to be between 15 and 40 cm tall.
Monarda bradburiana, the eastern beebalm or Bradbury's beebalm, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae, that is native to much of the southeastern United States.
Monarda clinopodia, commonly known as white bergamot, basil bee balm or white bee balm, is a perennial wildflower in the mint family, Lamiaceae. This species is native to North America, ranging north from New York, west to Missouri, and south to Georgia and Alabama. M. clinopodia has also been introduced into Vermont and Massachusetts.
Teucrium argutum, commonly known as native germander, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a perennial herb often suckering, with hairy, broadly egg-shaped leaves with toothed or wavy edges, and pink-purple flowers.