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Pentanema squarrosum
Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Pentanema squarrosum (syn. Inula conyzae), ploughman's-spikenard, is a species of plant in the Asteraceae found in Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. It is an aromatic herb that grows in calcareous grassland and was in the past sometimes harvested as a substitute for true spikenard, or nard, Nardostachys jatamansi.
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Description
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Ploughman's spikenard is a softly hairy plant up to about 130 cm tall with a much-branched, often purplish stem and an irregularly thickened taproot. The leaves and roots are aromatic, especially in spring, with a faint spicy, cinnamon or cumin smell. It is usually a biennial or short-lived perennial, with an overwintering rosette.[1][2]
The leaves are softly furry with long, simple hairs that are thicker on the veins than on the lamina. The basal leaves are up to 15 cm long, ovate to lanceolate and slightly pointed at the tip, with a short petiole that clasps the stem ("semiamplexicaul"). The upper leaves are gradually smaller and narrower, with shorter petioles, and the topmost are sessile.
Flowering occurs in late summer. The inflorescence is a loose corymbose panicle of capitula on long stalks. Each capitulum, or flowerhead, has many rows of purple phyllaries (bracts) around the outside and a dense cluster of tiny yellow flowers in the middle. The outer flowers are female and have 3 lobes with slightly elongated rays, or ligules, to about 9 mm and a forked style. The inner ones are 7 mm long with 5 lobes, bisexual with 5 fused stamens and a forked style.
The fruit is an achene about 2 mm long with a pappus of white, 8 mm hairs.[3][2]
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Identification
When flowering, ploughman's spikenard presents few problems of identification, but the basal leaves strongly resemble those of foxglove. Although these two species do not grow together, it can be difficult to identify them correctly. Ploughman's spikenard has softly hairy leaves with usually entire (not toothed) margins (or sometimes with teeth that are tipped by a prominent hydathode) and, of course, a distinct fragrance, at least in spring and summer.[4][5]
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Taxonomy
Until recently, ploughman's spikenard was commonly known as Inula conyzae but in 2019 it was renamed Pentanema squarrosum. [6]
The common name 'ploughman's spikenard' refers to an incense or fragrance known as nard (νάρδος in Ancient Greek), which is mentioned several times in the Bible as an expensive luxury item.[7] The word nard comes ultimately from the Sanskrit नलद (nálada), a rare Himalayan plant called Nardostachys jatamansi.[8] The addition of 'spike' to the name may be a reference to the taproot, from which the essential oil is extracted. In Europe during the Middle Ages, ploughman's spikenard would have been a cheap substitute, so called because it also has a taproot with a fragrant odour which has been described as a faint cinnamon smell.[1]
Its common names across Europe testify to its usefulness: in German it is Duerrwurz ("dried root"); in French Herbe aux Mouches ("herb of flies"). English common names include cinnamon root, great fleabane and horse heal.[1]
Distribution and Status
Ploughman's Spikenard is native to Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. It has also been introduced to Columbia and New Zealand.[9][10]
It has not been evaluated for the IUCN Red List[11] while in Britain it is classified as "least concern" because it is quite common and is not threatened.[12]
Habitat and ecology
Ploughman's spikenard only grows on calcareous soils over chalk, limestone or sand. It prefers very short swards and often occurs in areas of disturbance, such as roadsides and old quarries. It is rarely abundant and often occurs as scattered plants. In the British National Vegetation Classification, it is found in Calcicolous grasslands CG1, CG2, CG3, CG4, CG5 and CG7.[13] [14]
Ploughman's spikenard is host to various flying insect pollinators and at least 48 parasites, including oxtongue broomrape, which is very rare in Britain but more common in Europe; the spikenard case-bearer moth, which is oligophagous on this plant and related fleabanes; and Coleosporium inulae, a type of rust fungus which has part of its life cycle on pine trees and part on members of the Asteraceae.[15]
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Uses
The leaves are burned and used as an insecticide and parasiticide, especially against fleas. Even the smell of the plant is flea repellent. When the root is burned, it becomes a useful room scent (it is used this way in Turkey).[16][1] Sell and Murrell[2] claim that in Britain it was sometimes dried and hung up in cottages as a room freshener.
References
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