Pterocaulon virgatum, common name wand blackroot,[3] is a plant species widespread in Latin America and in the West Indies. In the contiguous United States, it has been reported only from Texas and Louisiana.[4][5] It grows in marshy areas, ditches, sandy loam, etc.[6][7]
| Pterocaulon virgatum | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Pterocaulon |
| Species: | P. virgatum
|
| Binomial name | |
| Pterocaulon virgatum (L.) DC.
| |
| Synonyms[1][2] | |
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Pterocaulon virgatum is a perennial herb up to 150 cm (60 inches) tall. Leaves are alternate, narrowly linear, green above, white with dense woolly hairs below. Flower heads are arranged in spikes at the ends of branches. There are no ray flowers, only 25-50 yellow disc flowers per head.[6][8]
Historical uses
editAccording to James Mooney, the Cherokee Indians made use of the plant in their sweat baths for various diseases and it was considered one of their most valuable medicinal plants.[9]
References
edit- ^ Tropicos
- ^ The Plant List
- ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Pterocaulon virgatum". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
- ^ Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
- ^ Texas A&M University, Oak Trust, Department of Biology
- ^ a b Flora of North America v 19 p 477.
- ^ Cabrera, A. L. and A. M. Ragonese. 1978. Revisión del género Pterocaulon (Compositae). Darwiniana 21: 185–257.
- ^ Candolle, Augustin Pyramus de. Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 5: 454. 1836.
- ^ Mooney, James (1891). "The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees". Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Washington DC: Government Printing Office. pp. 301–398. OCLC 747738317., s.v. Selected List of Plants Used (Gnaphalium decurrens)
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