Misplaced Pages

Anchusa strigosa

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Species of Anchusa

Anchusa strigosa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Boraginales
Family: Boraginaceae
Genus: Anchusa
Species: A. strigosa
Binomial name
Anchusa strigosa
Banks & Sol.
Synonyms
  • Anchusa echinata (Lam.)
  • Buglossum echinatum Tausch
  • Buglossum syriacum Tausch

Anchusa strigosa is a non-succulent species of herbaceous plants in the Boraginaceae family endemic to the Eastern Mediterranean regions, particularly Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Iran. It is known widely by its common names of strigose bugloss and prickly alkanet.

Description

Anchusa strigosa is a perennial herb, with a rosette of leaves at its base and an inflorescence stem that rises to a height of 1 metre (3+1⁄2 ft) or more. The leaves are rough as the tongue of a ruminate.

In winter the plant grows a large rosette of leaves, and in late spring a few inflorescence stems grow from the base of the plant. The petiole is nail-like (9 mm long) and has a narrow tube and a closed pharynx with bristly white scales. The flower is blue, but it is gradually being displacing by a white-flowered variety.

Similar species

The Italian bugloss is very similar to A. strigosa in as far as its blue flower is concerned, but differs from A. strigosa by its soft hairs which are not prickly. In taste, the cooked tender leaves of the Italian bugloss are preferable to the strigose bugloss, but from the flowers of both species can be made a sweet condiment.

Etymology

The rough leaves gave rise to its Arabic designation (لسان الثور; lisān eth-thawr) and its Hebrew designation (לשון-פר; leshon-par) take their names. Both names are a reflection of the word bouglossos, called in Koinē Greek: βούγλωσσον, the name given for the same plant and meaning "ox-tongued". The plant grows lean, and is often scraggy, from whence the modern taxonomic name of the species (strigosa) takes its name.

Distribution and habitat

The plant is native to the Old World, namely, the Eastern Mediterranean basin and adjacent Western Asia, growing in heavy soils in semi-steppe shrub lands, shrub-steppes, and in Mediterranean woodlands. In Israel its principal habitat is the transition belt between the Mediterranean coastal region and the arid desert regions, growing along waysides in sandy and chalkstone habitats.

The flowers blossom between March and May in Israel. In Ottoman Palestine, the flower's pollen was harvested by honey bees in the production of honey.

Anchusa strigosa, its prickly leaves and stem, growing laterally along the ground

Uses

The roots of Anchusa (like those of Alkanna and Lithospermum) contain anchusin (or alkanet-red), a red-brown resinoid colouring matter. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, chloroform and ether. The red-tinge was used in women's cosmetics as rouge to redden the cheeks.

In some species, the resinoid was collected and used for medicinal purposes. Gustaf Dalman, who conducted geographical and ethnographic research in Palestine in the early 20th-century, heard the plant lisān eth-thōr described to him in the country as being an edible wild herb, and which he applied to A. officinalis, saying that its young leaf growths of spring were collected by some of the indigenous Arab peoples of the land, who then boiled them to be eaten. After boiling, the leaves are finely chopped and sautéed in oil and garlic, and used as a meat garnish or as a viand with eggs.

The Greek physician and botanist Dioscorides (c. 40–90 CE) mentions the medicinal properties of Anchusa (Greek: ἄγχουσα) in his day, adding that "the ointment makers use the root for thickening ointments." Burns and skin lesions can be cured with an ointment prepared from crushed leaves of the plant with the addition of olive oil. The Jewish philosopher and physician, Maimonides (1138–1204 CE), recalls the genera Lingua Bovina ("ox-tongue") in his Guide to Good Health (Regimen Sanitatis), saying that it is "a proven light drug used in compound decoctions", after its leaves were dried, ground into a powder, and infused in hot water.

References

  1. "Anchusa strigosa Banks & Sol. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online.
  2. "Kew. Missouri Botanical Garden. The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  3. Shmida (2005), p. 126
  4. Ḳrispil, Nissim (1985). A Bag of Plants (The Useful Plants of Israel) (in Hebrew). Vol. 3 (Ṭ.-M.). Jerusalem: Cana Publishing House Ltd. p. 619. ISBN 965-264-011-5. OCLC 959573975., s.v. Anchusa strigosa
  5. In other Arabic dialects, this species of plant is called نبات الحمحم (al-ḥimḥim).
  6. Shmida, Avi (2005). MAPA's Dictionary of Plants and Flowers in Israel (in Hebrew). Tel-Aviv: MAPA Publishers. p. 126. OCLC 716569354., s.v. Anchusa strigosa
  7. Danin, Avinoam, Flora of Israel, s.v. Anchusa strigosa
  8. Dalman, Gustaf (2013). Work and Customs in Palestine. Vol. I/2. Translated by Nadia Abdulhadi Sukhtian. Ramallah: Dar Al Nasher. p. 563. ISBN 9789950385-01-6. OCLC 1040774903.
  9. Ḳrispil, Nissim (1985). A Bag of Plants (The Useful Plants of Israel) (in Hebrew). Vol. 3 (Ṭ.-M.). Jerusalem: Cana Publishing House Ltd. p. 619. ISBN 965-264-011-5. OCLC 959573975., s.v. Anchusa strigosa
  10. Löw, I. (1924). Die Flora der Juden (in German). Vol. 1. Vienna - Leipzig. p. 292. OCLC 1000690416.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (vol. 2, p. 230)
  11. Dalman, Gustaf (2013). Work and Customs in Palestine. Vol. I/2. Translated by Nadia Abdulhadi Sukhtian. Ramallah: Dar Al Nasher. p. 351. ISBN 9789950385-01-6. OCLC 1040774903.
  12. Dioscorides, De Materia Medica ("On Medical Material"), Book IV.23–26; IV.128
  13. Maimonides (1963). Suessmann Muntner (ed.). Moshe Ben Maimon (Maimonides) Medical Works (in Hebrew). Translated by Moshe Ibn Tibbon. Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook. pp. 47, 107–108. OCLC 729184001.

Further reading

  • Galen, XI, pp. 811–813 (Blendings and Dynameis of Simple Drugs, VI. 1. 4: "The Four Άγχούσαι"); Pliny, Natural History, XXII, 48–49, 51–52; XXVII, 59; Hesychius, Lexicon, ed. Latte, vol. 1, p. 35 (pp. 924–924: άγχούσα)

External links


Taxon identifiers
Anchusa strigosa
Categories: