Teucrium is a cosmopolitan genus of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae, commonly known as germanders.[2] Plants in this genus are perennial herbs or shrubs, with branches that are more or less square in cross-section, leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and flowers arranged in thyrses, the corolla with mostly white to cream-coloured, lobed petals.
| Germanders | |
|---|---|
| |
| Teucrium eremaeum | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Lamiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Ajugoideae |
| Genus: | Teucrium L. (1753) |
| Type species | |
| Teucrium fruticans L.
| |
| Species | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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List
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Description
editPlants in the genus Teucrium are perennial herbs or shrubs with four-cornered stems, often with simple hairs and sessile glands. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, simple or with three leaflets sometimes with lobed or serrated edges. The flowers are arranged in a thyrse, sometimes in a cyme in leaf axils. The flowers have five more or less similar sepals fused at the base, and the corolla is white or cream-coloured with five lobes forming two lips. The upper lip is usually much reduced in size and the lower lip has three lobes, the central lobe usually larger than the side lobes. There are four stamens attached near the base of the petals and the fruit is a schizocarp with four segments.[3][4][5][6][7]
Taxonomy
editThe genus Teucrium was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum.[8][9] The name Teucrium was used by Pedanius Dioscorides for several species in this genus, and is believed to refer to King Teucer of Troy who used the plant in his medicine.[10][11]
Species
edit(See List of Teucrium species)
Teucrium is a cosmopolitan genus with about 300 species, the distribution centred on the Mediterranean. There are about thirteen species endemic to Australia.[4][5]
Fossil record
edit†Teucrium tatjanae seed fossils are known from the Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene of western Siberia, Miocene and Pliocene of central and southern Russia and Miocene of Lusatia. The fossil seeds are similar to seeds of the extant Teucrium orientale.[12] †Teucrium pripiatense seed fossils have been described from the Pliocene Borsoni Formation in the Rhön Mountains of central Germany.[13]
Gallery
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References
edit- ^ "Teucrium L." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Teucrium". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
- ^ "Teucrium". Flora of China. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ a b Conn, Barry J. "Teucrium". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ a b Conn, Barry J. "Genus Teucrium". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ "Teucrium". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ "Teucrium". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ "Teucrium". APNI. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1753). Species Plantarum. p. 562. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 117. ISBN 9780958034180.
- ^ Grieve, Maude (1971). A Modern Herbal. Courier Dover Publications. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-486-22798-6.
- ^ The Pliocene flora of Kholmech, south-eastern Belarus and its correlation with other Pliocene floras of Europe by Felix Yu. VELICHKEVICH and Ewa ZASTAWNIAK - Acta Palaeobot. 43(2): 137–259, 2003
- ^ The floral change in the tertiary of the Rhön mountains (Germany) by Dieter Hans Mai - Acta Paleobotanica 47(1): 135-143, 2007.
External links
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