Arctopus

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}

{{About|the plant|the band|Behold...The Arctopus}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image = Arctopus echinatus female (1).jpg

|image_caption = Arctopus echinatus, female plant in flower

|display_parents = 2

|taxon = Arctopus

|authority = L.

|subdivision_ranks = Species

|subdivision =

• Arctopus dregei Sond.
• Arctopus echinatus L.
• Arctopus monacanthus Carmich. ex Sond.

|}}

File:Arctopus echinatus IMG 0487.JPG

Arctopus is a genus of flowering plants in the Apiaceae, with three species. The genus is endemic to Southern Africa. The genus name means "bears foot" (from {{wikt-lang|grc|ἄρκτος}} {{grc-tr|ἄρκτος}} "bear" and {{wikt-lang|grc|πούς}} pous "foot") in reference to the curious growth habit, resembling a large footprint, if not to the fact that the leaves are fringed with formidable prickles that punish bare feet and grazing.

The species were used in Khoisan medicine and adopted by the early settlers who gave them the Afrikaans name of sieketroos (= "sickness-comfort" i.e. "sickness remedy"){{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.sajb.2006.06.009|title=Ethnobotany and antimicrobial activity of sieketroos (Arctopus species)|journal=South African Journal of Botany|volume=73|pages=159–162|year=2007|last1=Magee|first1=A.R|last2=Van Wyk|first2=B.-E|last3=Van Vuuren|first3=S.F|doi-access=free}}

The species are atypical of the Apiaceae in that the leaves grow flat on the ground, and that the plants are dioecious, with the male and female flowers borne on separate plants.{{Cite journal|last1=Magee|first1=Anthony R.|last2=van Wyk|first2=Ben-Erik|last3=Tilney|first3=Patricia M.|last4=van der Bank|first4=Michelle|date=2008|title=A Taxonomic Revision of the South African Endemic Genus Arctopus (Apiaceae, Saniculoideae)|journal=Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden|volume=95|issue=3|pages=471–486|jstor=25488206|doi=10.3417/2005174|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/390627 }}