Teucrium

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Germanders
Teucrium eremaeum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Subfamily: Ajugoideae
Genus: Teucrium
L. (1753)
Type species
Teucrium fruticans
L.
Species

See List of Teucrium species

Synonyms[1]
List
    • Botrys
      Fourr.
    • Chamaedrys
      Mill.
    • Iva
      nom. illeg.
    • Kinostemon Kudô
    • Melosmon
      Raf.
    • Monipsis Raf.
    • Monochilon Dulac
    • Oncinocalyx
      F.Muell.
    • Poliodendron Webb & Berthel.
    • Polium Mill.
    • Scorbion Raf.
    • Scordium Mill.
    • Scorodonia Hill
    • Spartothamnella
      Briq.
    • Spartothamnus
      Walp.
    • Teucridium
      Hook.f.
    • Trixago Raf.

Teucrium is a

perennial herbs or shrubs, with branches that are more or less square in cross-section, leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and flowers arranged in thyrses, the corolla
with mostly white to cream-coloured, lobed petals.

Description

Plants in the genus Teucrium are perennial herbs or shrubs with four-cornered stems, often with simple hairs and

cyme in leaf axils. The flowers have five more or less similar sepals fused at the base, and the corolla is white or cream-coloured with five lobes forming two lips. The upper lip is usually much reduced in size and the lower lip has three lobes, the central lobe usually larger than the side lobes. There are four stamens attached near the base of the petals and the fruit is a schizocarp with four segments.[3][4][5][6][7]

Taxonomy

The genus Teucrium was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum.[8][9] The name Teucrium was used by Pedanius Dioscorides for several species in this genus, and is believed to refer to King Teucer of Troy who used the plant in his medicine.[10][11]

Species

(See List of Teucrium species)

Scurfy germander (T. albicaule)
Teucrium capitatum
Tree germander (T. fruticans)

Teucrium is a cosmopolitan genus with about 300 species, the distribution centred on the Mediterranean. There are about thirteen species endemic to Australia.[4][5]

Fossil record

†Teucrium tatjanae seed fossils are known from the Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene of western Siberia, Miocene and Pliocene of central and southern Russia and Miocene of Lusatia. The fossil seeds are similar to seeds of the extant Teucrium orientale.[12] †Teucrium pripiatense seed fossils have been described from the Pliocene Borsoni Formation in the Rhön Mountains of central Germany.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Teucrium L." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  2. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Teucrium". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  3. ^ "Teucrium". Flora of China. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b Conn, Barry J. "Teucrium". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b Conn, Barry J. "Genus Teucrium". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Teucrium". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  7. Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
    .
  8. ^ "Teucrium". APNI. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  9. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1753). Species Plantarum. p. 562. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  10. ISBN 9780958034180
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-486-22798-6
    .
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ The floral change in the tertiary of the Rhön mountains (Germany) by Dieter Hans Mai - Acta Paleobotanica 47(1): 135-143, 2007.

External links

New International Encyclopedia article "Germander
".
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