Silaum silaus

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Silaum silaus
A botanical illustration of Silaum silaus

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Silaum
Species:
S. silaus
Binomial name
Silaum silaus
Synonyms [2][3]

Silaum silaus, commonly known as pepper-saxifrage,[4] is a perennial plant in the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) (the carrot family) found across south-eastern, central, and western Europe, including the British Isles. It grows in damp grasslands on neutral soils.

Description

Silaum silaus is an erect,

hermaphroditic.[3]

Silaum silaus has 2–4-

bracts and 5–11 bracteoles; the pedicels are linear-lanceolate with scarious margins.[3]

The flowers are yellowish and 1.5 mm across,

sepals, and the styles form a stylopodium.[3] The fruits are 4–5 mm in size, oblong-ovoid, and are rarely compressed.[3] The commissure is broad, the mericarps are prominent with slender ridges and lateral forming narrow wings; a carpophore is present.[3] There are numerous vittae, with stout pedicels of 2–3 mm in size, and the stigmas are capitate.[3]

Taxonomy

Silaum silaus was one of the many species described by Carl Linnaeus in volume 1 of the 1753 edition of his Species Plantarum as Peucedanum silaus.[7] It was given its current binomial name in 1915 by Swiss botanists Hans Schinz and Albert Thellung in 1915.

The etymology of the genus name Silaum is uncertain, although it may refer to the mountainous plateau La Sila in southern Italy.[8] Another possible explanation is that Silaum may be derived from the yellow ochre, related to the colour of the plant's flowers.[3] Silaus is an old generic name[8] used by Pliny.[3]

Silaum silaus bears the common name pepper-saxifrage (with or without hyphenation) despite being neither a

saxifrage nor peppery in taste.[9]

Distribution and habitat

Silaum silaus is found in western, central and south-eastern Europe[10] (including Great Britain),[3] north to the Netherlands and Sweden but is absent from Portugal.[3] In Great Britain, it is found mainly south of the far south of Scotland.[11] The species is listed as an invasive species in Denmark.[12]

Silaum silaus grows in a wide variety of habitats, generally preferring those with damper soils.

meadows (hay,[5] water[13] and lowland meadows[14]); it is also occasionally found on chalk downs and vegetated shingle.[13]

Ecology

Egg of the butterfly Papilio machaon on a Silaum silaus host plant

Silaum silaus is an indicator of agriculturally unimproved meadows,

larvae in the UK use the plant as a food source – Sitochroa palealis, Agonopterix ciliella and Agonopterix yeatiana.[15]

Silaum silaus fruit has been identified from substage III of the

Hoxnian interglacial period (a stage in the middle Pleistocene) in the British Isles.[16]

Uses

Silaum silaus is listed in John Parkinson's 1640 work Theatrum Botanicum as being able to soothe "frets" in infants.[17]

References

  1. ^ "Species Status, The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain" (PDF). Joint Nature Conservation Committee. p. 92. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Silaum silaus (L.) Schinz & Thell". The Plant List. Archived from the original on 1 August 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Burton, J. M. (2002). "Silaum silaus (L) Schinz & Thell. Pepper Saxifrage". Online Guide To Umbelliferae Of The British Isles. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  4. ^ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Pepper Saxifrage". The Wildlife Trusts. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Pepper-saxifrage - Silaum silaus". NatureSpot. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  7. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1753). "Tomus I". Species Plantarum. Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius. p. 246. Archived from the original on 26 May 2024.
  8. ^
    ISBN 9780521866453
    . Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  9. ^ "Silaum silaus – Pepper Saxifrage". Emorsgate Seeds. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  10. ^ Fröberg, Lars (7 August 2008). "Silaum". Flora Nordica. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  11. Botanical Society of the British Isles. Archived
    from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  12. ^ "Silaum silaus". Invasive Species Compendium. 26 May 2011. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  13. ^ a b "Silaum silaus (Pepper-saxifrage)". Online Atlas of the British & Irish Flora. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  14. ^
    UK BAP. Archived
    from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  15. ^ "Moths larvae that feed on Pepper-saxifrage Silaum silaus". Northumberland Moths. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  16. ^ Godwin, Sir Harry (1956). The History of the British Flora: A Factual Basis for Phytogeography. CUP Archive. pp. 227–. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  17. ISBN 9781576078747. Archived
    from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2013.

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Silaum_silaus&oldid=1226627170"