Argentina anserina

Last updated

Argentina anserina
Argentina egedii 2834.JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Argentina
Species:
A. anserina
Binomial name
Argentina anserina
Synonyms [1]
  • Potentilla anserina
  • Potentilla yukonensis

Argentina anserina (synonym Potentilla anserina) is a perennial flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is known by the common names silverweed, common silverweed or silver cinquefoil. It is native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, often on river shores and in grassy habitats such as meadows and road-sides. The plant was originally placed in the genus Potentilla by Carl Linnaeus in his Species plantarum, edition 1, (1753) but was reclassified into the resurrected genus Argentina by research conducted in the 1990s. [2] The reclassification remains controversial and is not accepted by some authorities. [1] [3] [4] [5] It is a species aggregate which has frequently been divided into multiple species. [6] [7]

Contents

Description

Silverweed leaves are covered in fine silvery hairs that give the plant its name. Argentina egedii 2818.JPG
Silverweed leaves are covered in fine silvery hairs that give the plant its name.

Silverweed is a low-growing herbaceous plant with creeping red stolons that can be up to 80 cm long. The leaves are 10–20 cm long, evenly pinnate into in saw-toothed leaflets 2–5 cm long and 1–2 cm broad with 614 teeth per side, covered with silky white hairs, particularly on the underside. These hairs are also present on the stem and the stolons. These give the leaves the silvery appearance from which the plant gets its name. Each leaf is borne on a channeled petiole up to 5 cm in length with a long sheathing base. [8]

The flowers are produced singly on 5–15 cm long stems, 1.5-2.5 cm diameter with five (rarely up to seven) yellow petals. The fruit is a cluster of dry achenes.

Habitat

Silverweed is most often found in sandy or gravelly soils, where it may spread rapidly by its prolific rooting stolons. It typically occurs in inland habitats, unlike A. egedii , which is a salt-tolerant coastal salt marsh plant.

Cultivation and uses

The plant was put in shoes to absorb sweat. It was formerly believed to be useful for epilepsy, and that it could ward off witches and evil spirits. [9]

The plant's roots were eaten by some Native American tribes. [10] It has been cultivated as a food crop for its edible roots, which resemble parsnips. [11] It may also become a problem weed in gardens.

Travelers visiting Tibet reported on the food use of the plant's root in the region. According to Pyotr Kozlov, who traveled in the Kham region in 1900–1901, Tibetans, who did not have any vegetables other than turnips, would often dig out roots of Argentina anserina (whose local name he gave as djüma), which could be easily dried and stored for later use. Kozlov even suggested that it would not be a bad idea for Russian peasants to do likewise, especially in famine years. [12] The mission of Sarat Chandra Das to Tibet in the late nineteenth century reported that the root of the plant, under a Tibetan name variously transcribed as toma, doma or droma, was served cooked in butter and sugar at the New Year's celebrations in the Tibetan capital Lhasa. [13]

Etymology and folklore

The pre-Linnaean name anserina means "of the goose" (Anser), either because the plant was used to feed them or because the leaves resembled the bird's footprints. In Sweden, the flower is called gåsört (goose-wort).

A rich folklore has developed around Silverweed. The plant bears the common name of richette in French, being rich through both silver and gold.

There is a legend that the Christ Child grew up and walked the roads of Palestine, and the yellow flowering plant of the dusty wayside with silvery fern-like leaves that lay flat on the ground has been called the Footsteps of Our Lord. [14]

Fossil record

Argentina anserina achenes are rather rare in Pliocene fossil floras of the East Europe but common in the Pleistocene. [15]

Related Research Articles

<i>Potentilla</i> Genus of flowering plants in the rose family Rosaceae

Potentilla is a genus containing over 300 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae.

<i>Potentilla erecta</i> Species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae

Potentilla erecta is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the rose family (Rosaceae).

<i>Ranunculus repens</i> Species of plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus repens, the creeping buttercup, is a flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe, Asia and northwestern Africa. It is also called creeping crowfoot and sitfast.

<i>Dasiphora fruticosa</i> Species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae

Dasiphora fruticosa is a species of hardy deciduous flowering shrub in the family Rosaceae, native to the cool temperate and subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere, often growing at high altitudes in mountains. Dasiphora fruticosa is still widely referenced in the horticultural literature under its synonym Potentilla fruticosa. Common names include shrubby cinquefoil, golden hardhack, bush cinquefoil, shrubby five-finger, widdy, and kuril tea.

<i>Geum urbanum</i> Species of flowering plant

Geum urbanum, also known as wood avens, herb Bennet, colewort and St. Benedict's herb, is a perennial plant in the rose family (Rosaceae), which grows in shady places in the temperate regions of Eurasia and North America.

<i>Filipendula vulgaris</i> Species of flowering plant

Filipendula vulgaris, commonly known as dropwort or fern-leaf dropwort, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae, closely related to meadowsweet. It is found in dry pastures across much of Europe and central and northern Asia, mostly on lime.

<i>Argentina</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Argentina (silverweeds) is a genus of plants in the rose family (Rosaceae) which is accepted by some authors, as containing 64 species, but classified in Potentilla sect. Leptostylae by others.

<i>Argentina egedei</i> Species of flowering plant

Argentina egedei, known as Eged's silverweed, is a flowering perennial plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is a salt-tolerant plant native to arctic and cool temperate coasts of the Northern Hemisphere, most commonly growing in salt marshes. The southern limits of the range are California and Long Island, New York in North America, and the Baltic Sea and coastal eastern Siberia in Eurasia. It is also sometimes called "Pacific silverweed", though this usually refers to Argentina pacifica and in any case does not describe the range of Eged's Silverweed well.

<i>Potentilla reptans</i> Species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae

Potentilla reptans, known as the creeping cinquefoil, European cinquefoil or creeping tormentil, is a flowering plant in the family Rosaceae.

<i>Potentilla indica</i> Species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae

Potentilla indica, known commonly as mock strawberry, Indian-strawberry, or false strawberry, often referred to as a backyard strawberry, mainly in North America, is a flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. It has foliage and an aggregate accessory fruit similar to that of a true strawberry. It has yellow flowers, unlike the white or slightly pink flowers of true strawberries. It is native to eastern and southern Asia, but has been introduced to many other areas as a medicinal and an ornamental plant, subsequently naturalizing in many regions worldwide.

<i>Argentina pacifica</i> Species of flowering plant

Argentina pacifica, sometimes called pacific silverweed, silverweed cinquefoil, or simply silverweed, is a low-growing perennial (6") with pinnately compound green leaves with silvery undersides. It is a member of the species aggregate known as Argentina anserina or Potentilla anserina. The yellow, saucer-shaped flowers appear late spring through summer. Pacific silverweed spreads very quickly in moist areas. Preferring salt marshes, river estuaries and shorelines, they are often seen growing alongside springbank clover. They need sun and regular water.

<i>Packera obovata</i> Species of plant

Packera obovata, commonly known as roundleaf ragwort, spoon-leaved ragwort, roundleaf groundsel, or squaw-weed, is an erect perennial herb in the Asteraceae (aster) family native to eastern North America. It was previously called Senecio obovatus. Basal and lower leaves are obovate with toothed margins, while upper leaves are pinnately divided. The ray flowers are yellow and the disk flowers orange-yellow, the inflorescences being held well above the foliage.

<i>Sibbaldiopsis</i>

Sibbaldiopsis is a genus in the plant family Rosaceae. This genus only contains a single species: Sibbaldiopsis tridentata, formerly Potentilla tridentata. Commonly, its names include three-toothed cinquefoil, shrubby fivefingers, and wineleaf. Systemic phylogenetic work has placed S. tridentata within Sibbaldia as Sibbaldia retusa.

<i>Antennaria racemosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Antennaria racemosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name racemose pussytoes. It is native to western North America from British Columbia and Alberta south as far as northern California and Wyoming. It grows in mountain forests, generally in moist, partially shaded areas, and often colonizes bare patches of mineral-rich soil, including disturbed areas.

<i>Balsamorhiza sagittata</i> Species of flowering plant

Balsamorhiza sagittata is a North American species of flowering plant in the tribe Heliantheae of the family Asteraceae known by the common name Arrowleaf Balsamroot. Also sometimes called Oregon sunflower, it is widespread across western Canada and much of the western United States.

<i>Paeonia ludlowii</i> Shrub in the family Paeoniaceae from southeast Tibet

Paeonia ludlowii, is a deciduous shrub of medium height, belonging to the tree peony section Moutan of the genus Paeonia, and endemic to southeast Tibet. In Tibet it is known as ≠'lumaidao' meaning "God's flower". The vernacular name in Chinese is 大花黄牡丹 meaning "big yellow-flowered peony". In English it is sometimes called Tibetan tree peony or Ludlow's tree peony. It has pure yellow, slightly nodding, bowl-shaped flowers, and large, twice compounded, light green leaves.

<i>Potentilla villosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Potentilla villosa is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. Its common names include villous cinquefoil, northern cinquefoil, and hairy cinquefoil. It is native to northwestern North America, where its distribution extends from Alaska to Alberta to Oregon. There are records from eastern Asia.

<i>Potentilla simplex</i> Species of flowering plant

Potentilla simplex, also known as common cinquefoil or old-field five-fingers or oldfield cinquefoil, is a perennial herb in the Rosaceae (rose) family native to eastern North America from Ontario, Quebec, and Labrador south to Texas, Alabama, and panhandle Florida.

<i>Potentilla argentea</i> Species of herb

Potentilla argentea, known as hoary cinquefoil, silver cinquefoil, silvery cinquefoil, or silver-leaf cinquefoil, is a perennial herb in the family Rosaceae. Potentilla argentea is native to Europe, Asia Minor, and Siberia, and is introduced throughout temperate areas in North America and in New Zealand.

<i>Eriophorum brachyantherum</i> Description of Eriophorum brachyantherum

Eriophorum brachyantherum, the closed-sheath cotton-grass, short-anthered cotton-grass or northland cottonsedge, is a species that is a part of the Cyperaceae or sedge family. It is commonly found in wet areas, such as bogs and cooler climate zones.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Plant List: Potentilla anserina L." Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic Garden. 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  2. A key to the Potentilla complex
  3. "Tropicos.org" . Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  4. "Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora: Potentilla anserina L." Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  5. Stace, Clive (2019). New flora of the British Isles (4th ed.). Suffolk, UK: C&M Floristics. ISBN   978-1-5272-2630-2.
  6. Arne Rousi (1965). "Biosystematic studies on the species aggregate Potentilla anserina L.". Annales Botanici Fennici. 2 (1): 47–112. JSTOR   23724290.
  7. Koski, M.H.; Ashman, T.-L. (2013). "Quantitative Variation, Heritability, and Trait Correlations for Ultraviolet Floral Traits in Argentina anserina (Rosaceae): Implications for Floral Evolution". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 174 (8): 1109–1120. doi:10.1086/671803. S2CID   85308493.
  8. Poland J, Clement EJ. 2020. The Vegetative Key to the British Flora, John Poland, Southampton. ISBN   978-0-9560-1442-9
  9. Howard, Michael. Traditional Folk Remedies (Century, 1987), p.121
  10. Fagan, Damian (2019). Wildflowers of Oregon: A Field Guide to Over 400 Wildflowers, Trees, and Shrubs of the Coast, Cascades, and High Desert. Guilford, CT: FalconGuides. p. 138. ISBN   978-1-4930-3633-2. OCLC   1073035766.
  11. Niering, William A.; Olmstead, Nancy C. (1985) [1979]. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region. Knopf. p. 752. ISBN   0-394-50432-1.
  12. P.K.Kozlov, "Монголия и Кам. Трехлетнее путешествие по Монголии и Тибету (1899--1901 гг.) (Mongolia and Kham. Three years' travel in Mongolia and Tibet (1899-1901). Kozlov gives the plant's Latin name as Potentilla anserina, and transcribes its Tibetan name in Russian as джюма (dzhyuma). (in Russian)
  13. "Journey to Lhasa and central Tibet". 1902.
  14. Taylor, Gladys (1956). Saints and their Flowers. Oxford: A. R. Mowbray & Co.
  15. The Pliocene flora of Kholmech, south-eastern Belarus and its correlation with other Pliocene floras of Europe by Felix Yu. VELICHKEVICH and Ewa ZASTAWNIAK - Acta Palaeobot. 43(2): 137–259, 2003