''Amsinckia'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s commonly known as fiddlenecks. The

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

is derived from the flower stems, which curl over at the top in a manner reminiscent of the head of a

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

. Fiddlenecks are in the family

Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the Borago, borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees, and herbs in 146 to 154 genus, genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single famil ...

, along with

borage Borage ( or ; ''Borago officinalis''), also known as starflower, is an annual herb in the flowering plant family Boraginaceae native to the Mediterranean region. Although the plant contains small amounts of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, some parts ar ...

and forget-me-nots. The genus is named after the patrician Amsinck family in honour of the Hamburg head of state and patron of botany Wilhelm Amsinck (1752–1831).

Distribution and description

The fiddlenecks are

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and south-western

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, but they are

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

in other regions. They are annuals, many of them bristly. Most have an erect stem, whose height varies from 20 to 120 cm. In most species the flowers are yellow, often with an orange tinge. Most are found at relatively low

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

s, below 500 metres. The seeds and

foliage A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, f ...

of fiddlenecks are poisonous to

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

, particularly

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

, because they contain

alkaloid Alkaloids are a broad class of natural product, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids. Alkaloids are produced by a large varie ...

s and high concentrations of

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...

s. The sharp hairs of the plants can cause skin irritation in humans. However, the shoots, seeds or leaves of several species were used as food by Native Americans, and the plant also had some medicinal uses. The

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

are hard to

distinguish In law, to distinguish a case means a court decides the holding or legal reasoning of a precedent case that will not apply due to materially different facts between the two cases. Two formal constraints constrain the later court: the expresse ...

, and their

ranges In the Hebrew Bible and in the Old Testament, the word ranges has two very different meanings. Leviticus In Leviticus 11:35, ranges (כירים) probably means a cooking furnace for two or more pots, as the Hebrew word here is in the dual numbe ...

overlap; furthermore, several of them have large numbers of slightly different varieties, and several of the

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

ise naturally. To decide which species a particular specimen belongs to, therefore, is likely to require a detailed examination with an

identification key In biology, an identification key, taxonomic key, or frequently just key, is a printed or computer-aided device that aids in the identification of biological organisms. Historically, the most common type of identification key is the dichotomous k ...

in hand.

Species

*'' Amsinckia calycina'', Hairy fiddleneck or yellow burweed—Native to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. * ''

Amsinckia carinata ''Amsinckia carinata'' is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name Malheur Valley fiddleneck. It is endemic to Oregon, where it is known only from Malheur County.Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and listed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

by the state. Has been considered to be a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of '' A. vernicosa'', but this is implausible given the separation of their ranges.Malheur Valley fiddleneck (''Amsinckia carinata'').
Oregon Department of Agriculture. * ''

Amsinckia douglasiana ''Amsinckia douglasiana'' is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae, known by the common name Douglas' fiddleneck. It is endemic to the coastal Santa Monica Mountains and Santa Ynez Mountains of southern California. D ...

'', Douglas' fiddleneck—Uncommon. South Coast and Western Transverse Ranges of California * ''

Amsinckia eastwoodiae ''Amsinckia eastwoodiae'' is a species of fiddleneck known by the common name Eastwood's fiddleneck. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the varied plant habitat of the hills, mountains, valleys, and coastlines. ''Amsinckia eastwoodi ...

'', Eastwood's fiddleneck—Lower-lying areas of central and southern California, west of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

* ''

Amsinckia grandiflora ''Amsinckia grandiflora'' is a species of fiddleneck known by the common name large-flowered fiddleneck. This is a wildflower endemic to California and considered a Critically endangered species on the state and national level. ''Amsinckia grand ...

'', Large-flowered fiddleneck— Central Valley of California.

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to California and listed as

by the state and by the US federal government. * ''

Amsinckia lunaris ''Amsinckia lunaris'' is an uncommon species of fiddleneck known by the common name bent-flowered fiddleneck. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the San Francisco Bay Area, the woods of the coastal and inland mountains just north, an ...

'', Bent-flowered fiddleneck—Uncommon.

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, Inner Coast Ranges and western Central Valley of California. Endemic to California and listed as fairly endangered by the state. * ''

Amsinckia lycopsoides ''Amsinckia lycopsoides'' is a species of flowering plant, known by the common name tarweed fiddleneck or bugloss fiddleneck, in the family ''Boraginaceae''. It is one of the more common species of fiddleneck. It is native to much of western Nor ...

'', Tarweed fiddleneck—Common. Found in all the Pacific coast states of the USA (though not east of the Sierra Nevada in California), and into

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

to the east and

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

to the north * '' Amsinckia marginata'' — Endemic to Ecuador. * ''

Amsinckia menziesii ''Amsinckia menziesii'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family. Varieties The plant has two varieties: :''Amsinckia menziesii'' var. ''intermedia'' - common fiddleneck, intermediate fiddle ...

'', Rancher's fireweed—Abundant throughout the western states of the US, in British Columbia and in

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, at heights of up to 1700 metres. Also found as an alien species in eastern North America and the Old World. Several varieties recognised. * ''

Amsinckia spectabilis ''Amsinckia spectabilis'' is a species of fiddleneck known by the common names seaside fiddleneck and woolly breeches. It is native to the west coast of North America from British Columbia to Baja California, where it grows in sandy habitat, inc ...

'', Seaside fiddleneck or woolly breeches—Found on the Pacific coast of North America from British Columbia to Baja California, and on offshore islands, at heights of up to 300m. * ''

Amsinckia tessellata ''Amsinckia tessellata'' is a species of fiddleneck known by the common names bristly fiddleneck, tessellate fiddleneck, checker fiddleneck, and devil's lettuce. The plant is native to dry regions of western North America, more specifically ea ...

'', Devil's lettuce or bristly fiddleneck—Common. Found at heights up to 2200 metres, in most of California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington; also found in South America. Absent from the Sierra Nevada and the north coastal regions of California. Several varieties recognised. * ''

Amsinckia vernicosa ''Amsinckia vernicosa'' is a species of fiddleneck known by the common name green fiddleneck. It is endemic to California, where it is an uncommon member of mountain, desert, and valley habitat in several regions. Description ''Amsinckia verni ...

'', Green fiddleneck—Uncommon. Found at heights of up to 1500 metres, in the south Coast Ranges of California and the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

References

External links

Jepson Manual treatment of the genusPictures of fiddlenecks in the CalPhotos database
{{Authority control Boraginaceae genera Flora of California Flora of Northern America Taxa named by Johann Georg Christian Lehmann