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Genus Lycopus L.

Род 665 (4). КАТУШКА — LYCOPUS L.¹

L., Sp. Pl., ed. 1 (1753) 21, Gen. Pl., ed. 5 (1754) 12.

Fam:   Labiatae Juss. (Lamiaceae)
Genus:   Lycopus L.
English Name: Waterhorehound, Gypsywort or Bugleweed

Description:

Perennial herbaceous plants with creeping rhizomes. Stems erect, ascendig, simple or branched, simple or simple and single glandular fibrous sometimes with vegetative shoots. Leaves of short stems or sittind down, jagged to simple pinnated, narrowly elliptical, elliptical, bare, merely fibrous or mixed with pinpoint glands. Blossoms collected in multiflower false vertebrae in the bosoms of the upper stem leaves. Bracts elliptic or filamentous, strikingly awso-like elongated. The calyx bell-shaped, with equal shares or uneven 5-piece, the teeth awso-like elongated. The corolla twin, four-sided. The corolla tube cylindrical or narrowly bell-shaped, in the opening with hairs; the shares almost the same or the top share a bit wider, white, pale yellow, yellowish with red spots or red hue. The stamens 2, longer than the corolla, the stamina 2 or missing. The walnuts 4, flattened, crossed pyramid, with a bold edge.

Business significance. They contain tanning substances and are used for tanning of furs and partly for dyeing of tissues. Traces of alkaloids are detected in the above-ground parts and are not eaten by bovine animals. In folk medicine, it is recommended to drink anti-rheumatic potions.

Table for determination of the species

1   Perennial leaves ................................................................................................................................................................ 2. - L. exaltatus L. fil.
1* Leaves whole, jagged, jagged jagged, seldom basically cut pine ............................................................................................ 1. - L. europaeus L.

¹ Developed by D. Peev.

From  „Флора на Н. Р. България”, том IX, БАН, София, (1989)

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Lycopus (waterhorehound,[3] gypsywort, or bugleweed) is a genus in the family Lamiaceae. They are all herbaceous plants native to Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America.[2] The species are most often found in wetlands, damp meadows, and stream banks. Some of the wetland species have become endangered.[4]

Appearance

The genus includes only perennial species; they spread by both seeds and stems rooting as they grow along the ground. Small white flowers bloom in late summer on leaf axials. Leaves are bright green, pointed, lobed, and like all mints occur in opposite pairs. Some species start with curled purple leaves that unfurl to a bright green coloration. The species in this genus vary in size, but generally grow to about 3–4 feet.[5]

Ethnobotanical history

The plant's juice yields black dye, supposedly used by the Roma to tan their skin to mimic Egyptians in Europe, and hence the common name of Gypsywort for Lycopus europaeus. Apothecaries and herbalists use the leaves, stems, and flowers for their astringent and sedative qualities as well as for anxiety, tuberculosis, and palpitations. Some species of the herb also may have narcotic and contraceptive effects.[5] Extracts may have benefits in Graves' disease.[6]

Fossil record

Fossil seeds of †Lycopus antiquus are known from the Middle Miocene strata of southern Russia, from the Miocene of Lower Lusatia, Germany and from the Late Miocene strata of western Siberia and Ukraine. Lycopus antiquus has possibly been applied to more than one extinct species which were widely distributed in Europe and Siberia from the Miocene to the Pliocene. Extant Lycopus species whose fruits most resemble L. antiquus, are the East Asian Lycopus lucidus and the Eurasian Lycopus exaltatus.[7]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Distribution in Bulgaria: (Conspectus of the Bulgarian Vascular Flora) = conspectus&gs_l= Zlc.

Distribution:

References: „Флора на Н. Р. България”, том IX, БАН, София, (1989), Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SPECIES:

Lycopus europaeus L. - Gypsywort, Gipsywort, Bugleweed, European bugleweed and Water horehound

 

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