Nothoscordum bivalve
{{short description|Species of plant}}
{{speciesbox
| image = Nothoscordum bivalve 2.jpg
| status = G4
| status_system = TNC
| genus = Nothoscordum
| species = bivalve
| range_map = Nothoscordum bivalve range map.png
| synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true
|title=Species synonymy
|Allium bivalve (L.) Kuntze
|Allium bivalve var. bangii Kuntze
|Allium bivalve var. flavescens (Kunth) Kuntze
|Allium bivalve var. sellowianum (Kunth) Kuntze
|Allium bivalve var. striatum (Jacq.) Kuntze
|Allium canadense Michx.
|Allium flavescens Poepp. ex Kunth 1843, illegitimate homonym not Besser 1821
|Allium geminatum Raf.
|Allium ornithogaloides Walter
|Allium sellowianum (Kunth) Regel
|Allium striatellum Lindl.
|Allium striatum Jacq.
|Allium subbiflorum Colla
|Brodiaea aurea Benth. & Hook. f.
|Brodiaea berteroi (Kunth) Fuentes
|Brodiaea subbiflora (Colla) Baker
|Geboscon bivalve (L.) House
|Geboscon geminatum (Raf.) Raf.
|Geboscon striatum (Jacq.) Raf.
|Hookera subbiflora Kuntze
|Milla subbiflora (Colla) Baker
|Nothoscordum flavescens Kunth
|Nothoscordum gramineum Beauverd
|Nothoscordum gramineum (Sims) P. Beauv.
|Nothoscordum gramineum var. flavescens Fuentes
|Nothoscordum gramineum var. philippianum Beauverd
|Nothoscordum gramineum var. vernum Fuentes
|Nothoscordum ornithogaloides (Walter) Kunth
|Nothoscordum philippianum Kunth & C.D.Bouché
|Nothoscordum sellowianum Kunth
|Nothoscordum striatellum (Lindl.) Kunth
|Nothoscordum striatum (Jacq.) Kunth
|Nothoscordum subbiflorum (Colla) Walp.
|Nothoscordum texanum M.E.Jones
|Oligosma bivalve (L.) Salisb.
|Ornithogalum bivalve L.
|Ornithogalum carolinianum Schult. & Schult.f.
|Ornithogalum gramineum Sims
|Ornithogalum pulchellum Salisb.
|Tristagma subbiflorum (Colla) Ravenna
|Triteleia berteroi Kunth
}}
| synonyms_ref = [http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-282211 The Plant List]
}}
Nothoscordum bivalve is a species of flowering plant in the Amaryllidaceae family known by the common names crow poison and false garlic. It is native to the eastern United States from Texas to Florida up to Nebraska and Ohio, as well as Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, northeastern Argentina and central Chile.[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101807 Nothoscordum bivalve.] Flora of North America.[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=282211 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
This is a common plant which grows in parks and on roadsides, and soils which are not too dry or too wet; it grows well in lawns. It's one of the first plants to flower in the spring in Texas, and it blooms from April to May in the Great Plains.{{Cite web |title=FALSE GARLIC Nothoscordum bivalve (L.) Britt. |url=https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/factsheet/pdf/fs_nobi2.pdf |access-date=March 30, 2025 |website=USDA NRCS}}
Description
Nothoscordum bivalve is a perennial herb growing from a bulb about a centimeter wide. It produces one erect stem, or occasionally two. They grow up to {{convert|40|cm|in}} tall.
In Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada, and the British Possessions (1896), Nathaniel Lord Britton uses the following description for the species:
"Bulb globose, less than 1' in diameter, its coats membranous. Leaves 1/2" - 2 1/2" wide, flat, blunt or acutish, shorter than the scape or equalling it; bracts of the umbel lanceolate, acuminate, membranous, persistent; umbel 6-12-flowered; pedicels filiform, usually unequal, becoming rather rigid and 1' - 2' long in fruit; flowers 5" - 6" long; perianth-segments thin, oblong-lanceolate, acute, longer than the stamens; capsule obovoid or somewhat depressed, obtusely 3-lobed, 2" - 3" high, the style as long or slightly longer."{{Cite book |last=Britton |first=Nathaniel Lord |url=https://archive.org/details/anillustratedfl01browgoog/page/415/mode/2up |title=An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British possessions from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102d meridian |date=1897 |publisher=New York : C. Scribner's Sons |others=unknown library |isbn=978-0-665-05509-6}}
There are one to four narrow leaves up to {{convert|30|cm|in}} long. The inflorescence is an umbel of 3 to 6 flowers, or sometimes up to 10. There are two bracts at the base of the umbel. The flower has six whitish tepals, each of which usually has a dark reddish midvein.
The flower does not smell of onion or garlic.[http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_nobi2.pdf Nothoscordum bivalve.] USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet. It can have a faint fragrant [https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Nothoscordum scent]. The fruit is a capsule.
Taxonomy
Nothoscordum bivalve was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum. He used the name Ornithogalum bivalve, placing it as one of the 12 original species in the star-of-Bethlehem genus.{{Cite book |last=Linné |first=Carl von |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/669#/summary |title=Caroli Linnaei ... Species plantarum :exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas... |last2=Linné |first2=Carl von |last3=Salvius |first3=Lars |date=1753 |publisher=Impensis Laurentii Salvii |location=Holmiae}}
Carl Sigismund Kunth described the genus Nothoscordum in 1843.{{Cite book |last=Kunth |first=Karl Sigismund |url=https://archive.org/details/enumeratioplant04kuntgoog/page/456/mode/2up |title=Enumeratio plantarum omnium hucusque cognitarum, secundum familias naturales disposita: Adjectis characteribus, differentiis et synonymis |date=1833 |publisher=Stutgardiae, Sumtibus J.G. Cottae |others=unknown library}}{{Cite web |title=Nothoscordum Kunth {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:330286-2 |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=Plants of the World Online |language=en}} Here, he suggests Linnaeus' O. bivalve could be a synonym for several Nothoscordum species. It wasn't until 1896 that the name Nothoscordum bivalve was used, starting with Nathaniel Lord Britton's Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada, and the British Possessions.
= Other classifications =
In 1796, Richard Anthony Salisbury referred to it as Ornithogalum pulchellum in his account of the plants at Chapel Allerton.{{Cite book |last=Salisbury |first=R. A. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/427#/summary |title=Prodromus stirpium in horto ad Chapel Allerton vigentium |last2=Salisbury |first2=R. A. |date=1796 |publisher=[s.n.] |location=Londini}} This name is considered superfluous and was never widely used.{{Cite web |title=Ornithogalum pulchellum Salisb. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:539453-1 |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=Plants of the World Online |language=en}} In Otto Kuntze's controversial 1890s revision of taxonomy, he classified the plant as part of the Allium genus, calling it Allium bivalve.{{Cite book |last=Kuntze |first=Otto |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/7553#page/957/mode/1up |title=Revisio generum plantarum:vascularium omnium atque cellularium multarum secundum leges nomenclaturae internationales cum enumeratione plantarum exoticarum in itinere mundi collectarum ... |last2=Kuntze |first2=Otto |date=1893 |publisher=A. Felix [etc.] |volume=v.3 pt. 1-3 |location=Leipzig}} It's also been suggested as part of the Brodiaea, Milla, Tristagma, and Triteleia genuses.
Etymology
The genus name, Nothoscordum, means "false garlic" in Greek.{{Cite web |last=Webmaster |first=ANPS |date=2020-03-24 |title=Know Your Natives – Crow Poison |url=https://anps.org/2020/03/24/know-your-natives-crow-poison/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Arkansas Native Plant Society |language=en}} Bivalve means "two sides" and refers to the species' two bracts. The common name crow poison allegedly stems from a Cherokee legend that the flowers were lethal to crows.{{Cite web |title=Why is false garlic called crow poison? - Green Packs |url=https://greenpacks.org/why-is-false-garlic-called-crow-poison/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=greenpacks.org |language=en-US}}
Ecology and uses
The bulbs can be gathered any time of year and eaten cooked. They possess a faint garlic flavor.{{Cite book |last=Thayer |first=Samuel |title=Sam Thayer's field guide to edible wild plants of eastern and central North America |publisher=Forager's Harvest |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-9766266-4-0 |location=Weyerhaeuser, WI 54895 |pages=259 |language=EN}} According to the USDA, "It is grazed by livestock, but seldom represents a significant percentage of diet due to low productivity."
Because it's one of the earlier-blooming flowers in several southern US states, insects that are active early in the spring rely on it for nectar and pollen, such as the falcate orangetip.{{Cite web |title=False Garlic |url=https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/false-garlic |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=Missouri Department of Conservation |language=en}}
Nothoscordum bivalve is one of the species being investigated as a potential antimicrobial treatment against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.{{Cite web |last=Hernández-Marín |first=David Alejandro |last2=Guevara-Lara |first2=Fidel |last3=Rivas-Morales |first3=Catalina |last4=Verduzco-Martínez |first4=Jorge Armando |last5=Galindo-Rodriguez |first5=Sergio Arturo |last6=Sánchez-García |first6=Eduardo |date=2018-10-01 |title=Biological activity of Nothoscordum bivalve (L.) Britton and Parthenium incanum Kunth extracts. {{!}} EBSCOhost |url=https://openurl.ebsco.com/contentitem/gcd:135589324?sid=ebsco:plink:scholar&id=ebsco:gcd:135589324&crl=c |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=openurl.ebsco.com |language=en}} It's been reported that the species was used to treat wounds and skin irritation by some Native American tribes in order to prevent infection, and that it could have antimicrobial and astringent properties.{{Cite web |last=Immune |first=Green |date=2024-12-11 |title=Crow Poison: A Misunderstood Plant with Medicinal Potential? |url=https://www.green-immune.com/forum/wellness-forum/crow-poison-a-misunderstood-plant-with-medicinal-potential |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=Green Immune |language=en}} However, there are not yet any definitive findings that Nothoscordum bivalve is antimicrobial.
Gallery
File:Flowers of Nothoscordum bivalve (Family Amaryllidaceae).jpg|Flowers of Nothoscordum bivalve (Family: Amaryllidaceae). Crowpoison or false garlic.
File:Nothoscordum bivalve (Amaryllidaceae).jpg|Nothoscordum bivalve (Familia: Amaryllidaceae).
File:Nothoscordum bivalve 1.jpg|Nothoscordum bivalve.
File:Nothoscordum bivalve kz01.jpg|Nothoscordum bivalve in Jibou Botanical Garden.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Wikispecies}}
{{Commons}}
- [http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=NOBI2 USDA Plants Profile]
- [https://www.flawildflowers.org/flower-friday-nothoscordum-bivalve/ False garlic - Florida Wildflower Foundation]
- [https://www.lsuagcenter.com/topics/lawn_garden/commercial_horticulture/turfgrass/turfgrass-weeds/sedges/false-garlic False garlic]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q7062985}}
Category:Flora of the United States
Category:Plants described in 1753
Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
{{Amaryllidaceae-stub}}