Pycnocomon

{{Short description|Genus of plants}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image = Pycnocomon intermedium, 02 June 2016 (2).JPG

|image_caption = Pycnocomon intermedium between Branqueira and Olhos de Água, Algarve in Portugal.

|taxon = Pycnocomon

|authority = Hoffmanns. & Link

}}

Pycnocomon is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Caprifoliaceae.{{cite web |title=Pycnocomon Hoffmanns. & Link {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:14325-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=27 May 2021 |language=en}} They were formerly placed in the defunct family of Dipsacaceae.

It is native to the Mediterranean and found in the countries of Algeria, Corsica, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Sardinia, Sicily, Spain and Tunisia.

It was first published in Fl. Portug. vol.2 on page 93 in 1820.

It was included in genus Scabiosa {{au|L.}} for a long time but molecular data demonstrated that genera Pycnocomon and Lomelosia (another Scabiosa-like genus) form a clade distinct from Scabiosa.{{cite journal |last1=Avino |first1=M. |last2=Tortoriello |first2=G. |last3=Caputo |first3=P. |title=A phylogenetic analysis of Dipsacaceae (Dipsacales) based on four DNA regions. |journal=Pl. Syst. Evol. |date=2009 |volume=279 |pages=69–86|doi=10.1007/s00606-009-0147-y }}

In 2017, a new species from the family Eriophyidae, the gall mites, Aceria pycnocomi was found on Pycnocomon rutifolium in Spain.

{{cite journal |last1=Ripka |first1=Géza |last2=Sánchez |first2=Iñigo |title=A new Aceria species (Acari: Eriophyidae) from Spain on Pycnocomon rutifolium (Dipsacaceae) and supplementary descriptions of Aceria eucricotes and A. kuko from Lycium spp. (Solanaceae) |journal=Zootaxa |date=March 2017 |volume=4244 |issue=2 |page=195 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4244.2.2|pmid=28610119 }}

Pycnocomon rutifolium in Spain was screened for Anticancer activity in 2021.{{cite journal |last1=Calderón-Montaño |first1=José Manuel |last2=Martínez-Sánchez |first2=Sara María |last3=Jiménez-González |first3=Víctor |last4=Burgos-Morón |first4=Estefanía |last5=Guillén-Mancina |first5=Emilio |last6=Jiménez-Alonso |first6=Julio José |last7=Díaz-Ortega |first7=Patricia |last8=García |first8=Felipe |last9=Aparicio |first9=Abelardo |last10=López-Lázaro |first10=Miguel |title=Screening for Selective Anticancer Activity of 65 Extracts of Plants Collected in Western Andalusia, Spain |journal=Plants |date=October 2021 |volume=10 |issue=10 |page=2193 |doi=10.3390/plants10102193 |pmid=34686002|doi-access=free |pmc=8537044 }}