''Ononis repens'', the common restharrow, is a plant species of the genus ''

Ononis ''Ononis'' is a large genus of perennial herbs and shrubs from the legume family Fabaceae. The members of this genus are often called restharrows as some species grow as weeds on arable lands whose tough stems would stop the harrow. They are na ...

''.

Description

It is a prostrate (maximum height 60cm) woody perennial, spreading by rhizomes. It has hairy stems and small oval leaves with toothed edges. Leaflets are less than 3 times as long as wide. It occasionally has soft, weak spines, but never hard spines like those of ''

Ononis spinosa ''Ononis spinosa'' is a plant belonging to the family Fabaceae, that is commonly known as spiny restharrow or just restharrow. It is found throughout much of Europe including Britain, but seldom as far north as Scotland. Description Spiny rest ...

''. The leaves are covered in glandular hairs which give a resinous smell on bruising. Plants are hermaphroditic. The

zygomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spiral ...

flowers are pink and unscented, 15–20mm, blooming from June to September.

Habitat and distribution

It is found by the sea shore, on cliffs and dunes and is also common in grasslands and dry hill pastures in chalk or limestone areas, over light, well-drained soils. It may occasionally grow on roadside verges or beside railways. The species is native to Europe including the UK and Ireland. Its distribution spreads as far south as

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

and as far east as

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. It has declined in some parts of Britain but populations are generally stable. Although the species is very widespread, its distribution is often localised, due to its preference for particular soil conditions

Ecology

A rare species of moth, ''

Aplasta ononaria ''Aplasta'' is a monotypic moth genus in the family Geometridae erected by Jacob Hübner in 1823. Its only species, ''Aplasta ononaria'', the rest harrow, was first described by Johann Kaspar Füssli in 1783. It is found in southern Europe to A ...

'' is specialised to lay its eggs only on common restharrow. ''Ononis repens'' is pollinated by

bees Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfam ...

. Like other species in the order

Fabales The Fabales are an order of flowering plants included in the rosid group of the eudicots in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II classification system. In the APG II circumscription, this order includes the families Fabaceae or legumes (includin ...

, ''Ononis repens'' fixes nitrogen into soil from the air, promoting the growth of other plants.

Culinary use

''Ononis repens'' is related to

liquorice Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted. The liq ...

and its roots have a very similar flavour. A liquorice flavour drink can be made by soaking the roots in cold water, and historically the young shoots have been used as a vegetable, boiled or in salads.

Etymology

The English common name 'restharrow' comes from the plant's propensity to stop horse-drawn farming implements, with its hard, woody roots. The word 'ononis' or 'anonis' has been used for restharrow since classical Greece and Rome and has been suggested to stem from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

''onos'' for '' donkey'' because it was used to feed donkeys.https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kaN-hLL-3qEC&pg=PA1877&lpg=PA1877&dq=ononis+latin&source=bl&ots=55dqLYgR6s&sig=ACfU3U1pW9IZtk_krLsZsr6--OpOG1EX9Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwify-Cw5IbjAhX6SRUIHXLSC9c4ChDoATABegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=ononis%20latin&f=false CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names] The species epithet ''repens'' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

for ''creeping'', referring to the growth habit of the plant.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q161749

repens ''Eprius'' is a genus of skipper butterflies in the family Hesperiidae. Species *''Eprius repens'' Evans, 1955 *''Eprius repta'' Evans, 1955 *''Eprius veleda ''Eprius'' is a genus of skipper butterflies in the family Hesperiidae. Species ...

Flora of Europe Flora of North Africa Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus