Scrophularia nodosa

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Scrophularia nodosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Genus: Scrophularia
Species: S. nodosa
Binomial name
Scrophularia nodosa
L.

Scrophularia nodosa (also called figwort, woodland figwort, and common figwort) is a perennial herbaceous plant found in temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere except western North America.[1] It grows in moist and cultivated waste ground.[2]

Growth

It grows upright, with thick, sharply square, succulent stems up to 150 cm tall from a horizontal rootstock. Its leaves are opposite, ovate at the base and lanceolate at the tip, all having toothed margins. The flowers are in loose cymes in oblong or pyramidal panicles. The individual flowers are globular, with five green sepals encircling green or purple petals, giving way to an egg-shaped seed capsule.[3]

First year Scrophularia nodosa plant: swollen hypocotyl/stem with scars from the first four pairs of leaves (1-4). From (Warming 1884)

Folklore

The plant was thought, by the doctrine of signatures to be able to cure the throat disease scrofula because of the throat-like shape of its flowers.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Mills, S., The Complete Guide to Modern Herbalism, Thorsons, Great Britain, 1994.
  2. ↑ PLANTS Profile for Scrophularia nodosa (woodland figwort) | USDA PLANTS
  3. ↑ Figwort
  4. ↑ Figwort: Free Encyclopedia Articles at Questia.com Online Library

External links

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