Cicerbita alpina
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Cicerbita alpina 2005.07.31 11.58.41.jpg
| image_caption =
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Cicerbita
| species = alpina
| authority = (L.) Wallr. 1822
| synonyms_ref=[http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/gcc-100549 The Plant List, Lactuca alpina (L.) A.Gray ]
| synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true
|title=Synonymy
|Lactuca alpina (L.) A. Gray
|Mulgedium alpinum (L.) Less.
|Sonchus alpinus L. 1753
|Aracium alpinum (L.) Monnier
|Geracium alpinum (L.) Gren. & Godr.
|Hieracium coeruleum Scop.
|Mulgedium multiflorum DC.
|Picridium alpinum (L.) Philippe
|Sonchus alpestris Clairv.
|Sonchus canadensis L.
|Sonchus coeruleus Sm.
|Sonchus montanus Lam.
|Sonchus multiflorus Desf.
|Sonchus pallidus Torr. 1826 not Willd. 1803{{Cite taxon|IPNI|id=250277-1|taxon=Sonchus pallidus|authority=Torr. 1826 not Willd. 1803}}
|Sonchus racemosus Lam.
}}
}}
Cicerbita alpina, commonly known as the alpine sow-thistle or alpine blue-sow-thistle{{BSBI 2007|accessdate=2014-10-17}} is a perennial herbaceous species of plant sometimes placed in the genus Cicerbita of the family Asteraceae, and sometimes placed in the genus Lactuca as Lactuca alpina.{{cite web|url=http://dixon.iplantcollaborative.org/CompositaeWeb/Default.aspx?Page=NameSearch&searchText=cicerbita%20alpina&searchField=NameFull |editor=Flann, C |title=2009+ Global Compositae Checklist}}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} It is native to upland and mountainous parts of Europe.
It was once used as an herb in Sami cooking, and known as jierja.{{cite journal |last1=Nilsson |first1=Lena Maria |last2=Dahlgren |first2=Lars |last3=Johansson |first3=Ingegerd |last4=Brustad |first4=Magritt |last5=Sjölander |first5=Per |last6=Guelpen |first6=Bethany Van |title=Diet and lifestyle of the Sami of southern Lapland in the 1930s–1950s and today |journal=International Journal of Circumpolar Health |date=18 February 2011 |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=301–318 |doi=10.3402/ijch.v70i3.17831 |pmid=21631968 |language=en |issn=2242-3982|doi-access=free |hdl=10037/4081 |hdl-access=free }}
Description
Cicerbita alpina on average reaches {{convert|80|cm}} in height, with a minimum height of {{cvt|50|cm|0}} and a maximum height of {{cvt|150|cm|0}}. The stem is erect and usually unbranched. It has glandular hairs and contains a white milky juice, a kind of latex. The alternate leaves are broad, triangular and clasping the stem, bluish-grey beneath, hairy along the veins and with toothed margins. The inflorescence is a panicle. Each composite flower is about {{cvt|2.5|cm|0}} wide and is set within a whorl of bracts. The individual blue-violet florets are tongue-like with a toothed, truncated tip, each having five stamens and a fused carpel. All the florets are ray florets; there are no disc florets. The seeds are clothed in unbranched hairs. The flowering period extends from June to September in the temperate northern hemisphere.{{cite web |url=http://www.luontoportti.com/suomi/en/kukkakasvit/alpine-sowthistle |title=Alpine Sowthistle |publisher=NatureGate |access-date=2013-12-24}}
Distribution and habitat
Cicerbita alpina grows on many mountains of Europe (the Alps, the Pyrenees, the northern Apennines, the Scandinavian Peninsula, Scotland (where it is endangered and found in only four known locations), the Carpathians and the Urals.{{Cite web |url=http://www.plantlife.org.uk/scotland/wild_plants/plant_species_scotland/?ent=171 |title=Plant & fungi species | Wild plants in Scotland | Welcome to Plantlife Scotland |access-date=2013-06-06 |archive-date=2013-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616220904/http://www.plantlife.org.uk/scotland/wild_plants/plant_species_scotland/?ent=171 |url-status=dead }} These plants can be found in alpine woods, besides streams, in rich-soil in hollows and in tall meadows, usually between {{convert|1000|and|1800|m|ft|-1}} above sea level.
=Conservation=
It became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act.{{Cite web|url=http://www.caithness.org/caithnessfieldclub/bulletins/1975/october/conservation.htm|title = Caithness CWS - Caithness Field Club - Annual Bulletins - 1975 - October - Conservation}}
Ecology
In Finland, this plant is known as "bear-hay" because the Eurasian brown bear feeds on it, as do elk and reindeer. People also sometimes make use of it and eat it raw or cooked in reindeer milk.
Secondary metabolites
The edible shoots of Cicerbita alpina contain 8-O-Acetyl-15-beta-D-glucopyranosyllactucin, which causes the bitter taste of the vegetable, and caffeic acid derivatives chlorogenic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, caffeoyltartaric acid, and cichoric acid.{{cite journal | year = 2010 |author1=Fusani, P |author2=Zidorn, C | title = Phenolics and a sesquiterpene lactone in the edible shoots of Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallroth | volume = 23 | pages = 658–663 | issn = 0889-1575 | journal = Journal of Food Composition and Analysis (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) |issue=6 | doi = 10.1016/j.jfca.2009.08.014 }}
Gallery
References
{{Reflist}}
- Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia - Edagricole – 1982. vol. III
External links
{{Commons category|Cicerbita alpina}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090122222230/http://plantlife.org.uk/uk/plantlife-saving-species-under-our-care-cicerbita-alpina.htm Cicerbita alpina] Plant Life, United Kingdom
- [https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id41657/ Biolib, Czech Botany]
- [http://zipcodezoo.com/Plants/C/Cicerbita_alpina/ Zipcode Zoo, Cicerbita alpina]
- [http://flowerpictures.us/alpine_thistle_pictures.html Cicerbita alpina image gallery, Flower Pictures United States]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1477580}}
Category:Flora of the Pyrenees
Category:Plants described in 1753