Tofieldia | |
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Tofieldia pusilla | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Alismatales |
Family: | Tofieldiaceae |
Genus: | Tofieldia Huds. |
Type species | |
Tofieldia palustris [1] Huds. | |
Synonyms [2] | |
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Tofieldia is a small genus of flowering plants described as a genus in 1778. [3] [4] It is widespread across much of Europe, Asia, and North America. [2] [5] [6] [7]
Tofieldia was once placed in the lily family, but is now generally included in the newer family Tofieldiaceae. The genus sometimes includes species of genus Triantha . Tofieldia are rhizomatous perennial herbs with spikes or racemes of lily-like flowers.
The name Tofieldia commemorates the British botanist Thomas Tofield. [5]
Green glabrous perennials from short creeping rhizomes; leaves mostly radical, 2-ranked, laterally flattened, linear; scapes slender, few-leaved or naked; racemes sometimes spikelike, the flowers small, on short pedicels, in axils of bracts, solitary or in 3’s, bracteolate; tepals 6, persistent, linear-oblong to oblanceolate, white, greenish, or brownish red; stamens 6, the filaments linear-subulate, the anthers ovate, introrse, 2-locular; ovary superior, sessile, ovoid, 3-lobed at apex, the ovules numerous; styles short, the stigma introrse; capsules septicidal, 3-locular, the seeds small, narrowly oblong, caudate at one end or without appendage. About 20 species, in the temperate and northern regions of the N. Hemisphere. [8]
At least three species of Tofieldia have been used in traditional medicine:
In Scotland, the species T. pusilla (under the honorific common name of "King's Knot") was formerly believed to have apotropaic powers. For this reason, it was often deliberately planted near homes and farms to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. [9]
The European T. calyculata and the American species formerly known as T. racemosa (now correctly known as Triantha racemosa ) have both occasionally been cultivated as ornamentals, while T. pusilla has been deemed too small and easily overlooked to have any garden value. [12]
The acridity and potential toxicity of Tofieldia spp., when raw, may be accounted for by the fact that the genus, like other basal monocots (including, most notably, the related plant family Araceae [13] ) contains calcium oxalate crystals, present, in the case of Tofieldia, arranged in druses and as cuboidal crystals, rather than the raphides more usual in the Araceae. [14] In this connection, it may be noted that the species T. pusilla, when used in Scottish traditional medicine is prepared as a herbal tea [9] and thus subjected to both heat and steeping - both of which are used in the preparation of calcium oxalate-containing plants for food, as a means of eliminating the irritating oxalate crystals - most notably in the case of the popular tropical vegetable taro. [15]
Arisaema is a large and diverse genus of the flowering plant family Araceae. The largest concentration of species is in China and Japan, with other species native to other parts of southern Asia as well as eastern and central Africa, Mexico and eastern North America. Asiatic species are often called cobra lilies, while western species are often called jack-in-the-pulpit; both names refer to the distinctive appearance of the flower, which consists of an erect central spadix rising from a spathe.
Osmanthus is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. Most of the species are native to eastern Asia with a few species from the Caucasus, New Caledonia, and Sumatra. Osmanthus has been known in China since ancient times with the earliest writings coming from the Warring States period; the book Sea and Mountain. South Mountain states: "Zhaoyao Mountain had a lot of Osmanthus".
Maianthemum includes the former genus Smilacina and is a genus of perennial herbaceous flowering plants with fleshy, persistent rhizomes. It is widespread across much of North America, Europe and Asia, and may be terrestrial, aquatic or epiphytic. It is characterized by simple, unbranched stems that are upright, leaning or hanging down and have 2–17 foliage leaves. Leaves are simple and may clasp the stem or be short-petiolate. The inflorescence is terminal and either a panicle or a raceme with few to many pedicelate flowers. Most species have 6 tepals and 6 stamens; a few have parts in 4s. Tepals are distinct in most species and all of similar size. Flowers are spreading, cup-shaped or bell-shaped and usually white, but lavender to red or green in some species. Fruits are rounded to lobed berries containing few to several seeds.
Paris is a genus of flowering plants described by Linnaeus in 1753. It is widespread across Europe and Asia, with a center of diversity in China.
Tofieldiaceae is a family of flowering plants in the monocot order Alismatales. The family is divided into four genera, which together comprise 28 known species. They are small, herbaceous plants, mostly of arctic and subarctic regions, but a few extend further south, and one genus is endemic to northern South America and Florida. Tofieldia pusilla is sometimes grown as an ornamental.
Rohdea is a genus of plants native to eastern Asia. It was long thought to contain only a single species, R. japonica, but recent studies have resulted in several other taxa being transferred into the genus.
Ophiopogon (lilyturf) is a genus of evergreen perennial plants native to warm temperate to tropical East, Southeast, and South Asia. Despite their grasslike appearance, they are not closely related to the true grasses, the Poaceae. The name of the genus is derived from Greek ὄφις ophis, 'snake' and πώγων pogon, 'beard', most probably referring to its leaves and tufted growth. In the APG III classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoideae. Like many lilioid monocots, it was formerly classified in the Liliaceae.
Daphniphyllum is the sole genus in the flowering plant family Daphniphyllaceae and was described as a genus in 1826. The genus includes evergreen shrubs and trees mainly native to east and southeast Asia, but also found in the Indian Subcontinent and New Guinea.
Aletris, the colicroot, colicweed, crow corn, or unicorn root, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Nartheciaceae, native to North America and to eastern and southeastern Asia, especially China. It was used as a component in Lydia Pinkham's original Vegetable Compound.
Linnaea is a plant genus in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. Until 2013, the genus included a single species, Linnaea borealis. In 2013, on the basis of molecular phylogenetic evidence, the genus was expanded to include species formerly placed in Abelia, Diabelia, Dipelta, Kolkwitzia and Vesalea. However, this is rejected by the majority of subsequent scientific literature and flora.
Tofieldia pusilla is a species of flowering plant in the family Tofieldiaceae. It is also sometimes placed in the lily family, Liliaceae. Its common name is Scottish asphodel in Europe, and Scotch false asphodel in North America. The plant is native to northern North America and parts of Eurasia, its circumpolar distribution extending across Canada and the northern United States to Greenland, Iceland and northern Europe.
Kobresia is a genus of plants in the sedge family. They are sometimes called bog sedges. These perennial sedges are quite similar to Carex species in appearance. The genus is widespread across much of Europe, Asia and North America, with many species native to the Himalayas.
Ypsilandra is a genus of at least six herbaceous plant species, first described as a genus in 1888. This genus is a member of the Melanthiaceae and is native to East Asia.
Dolomiaea is a genus of Asian flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.
Notholirion is a small Asian genus of bulbous plants in the lily family, Liliaceae. It is closely related to Lilium, but each individual flowers only once, and then dies after producing offsets. The bulb is covered by a tunic. Leaves are basal, produced in autumn and winter.
Triantha is a small genus of flowering plants in the family Tofieldiaceae, first described as a genus in 1879. False asphodel is a common name for plants in this genus.
Triantha racemosa, commonly called the coastal false asphodel or southern bog asphodel, is a species of flowering plant in the Tofieldia family. It is native to the Coastal Plain of the Southeastern United States, although there are a few disjunct populations inland. It is found in acidic wetlands, including wet barrens and savannas.
Glochidion puberum is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Phyllanthaceae. It is native to China, where it is widely distributed in both subtropical and temperate regions. It has also been reported from Taiwan and Japan, and is morphologically very similar to the species Glochidion chodoense, endemic to southern South Korea. In Mandarin it is known as 算盘子 (suanpanzi), which also refers to the genus Glochidion as a whole. In China it is used for medicinal purposes.
Vitis wilsoniae is a vining plant in the grape family native to China. It is commonly known as the net veined grape or reticulated grape. This species can be found in the provinces of Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang. The plant grows at altitudes of 400-2000m.
Triantha occidentalis, the western false asphodel, is a species of carnivorous flowering plant in the genus Triantha from the family Tofieldiaceae within the order of the Alismatales. It is found in the Pacific Northwest. It was recognised as a carnivorous plant in 2021, a rare occurrence within the Monocot clade.