''Eryngium campestre'', known as field eryngo, or Watling Street thistle, is a

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), ...

of ''

Eryngium ''Eryngium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae. There are about 250 species. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with centres of diversity in the western Mediterranean, South America and Mexico.Calviño, C.I., Martíne ...

'', which is used medicinally. A member of the family

Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

, eryngo is a hairless, thorny

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

. The leaves are tough and stiff, whitish-green. The basal leaves are long-stalked,

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and ...

and spiny. The

leaves 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, ...

of this plant are mined by the gall fly, '' Euleia heraclei''.

Description

''Eryngium campestre'' is a stiff, hairless, prickly perennial plant. It resembles the better known

sea holly Sea holly is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Acanthus ebracteatus'' * ''Eryngium'' species, especially: ** ''Eryngium maritimum ''Eryngium maritimum'', the sea holly or sea eryngo, or sea eryngium, is a perennial species o ...

(''Eryngium maritimum''), but is taller and less robust, and the stem and leaves are paler and not bluish-green. The palmate leaves have more slender lobes which are tipped with spines, and the bracts below the flower heads are slender. The stems are thinner, the branches are longer and the globular flower heads are white and much smaller than the sea holly. This plant flowers between July and September.

Distribution and habitat

''Eryngium campestre'' has a mainly Central and Southern Europe distribution, north to Germany and Holland. It is common in many places but in Germany it is restricted to dry habitats near the Rivers

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

. It is very uncommon in dry

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

on neutral or calcareous soils in the southeast of the British Isles, having first been recorded in 1662 by the naturalist

John Ray John Ray Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (November 29, 1627 – January 17, 1705) was a Christian England, English Natural history, naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his ...

in Devon. It has statutory protection in Somerset and Devon and is persisting in several sites there, but elsewhere it is mostly a short-lived casual of waste ground, road verges and rough pastures.

Uses

Used in herbalism as an infusion to treat coughs,

whooping cough Whooping cough ( or ), also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable Pathogenic bacteria, bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common c ...

and urinary infections. Roots were formerly candied as sweets or boiled and roasted as a vegetable. The plants active constituents are essential oils,

saponin Saponins (Latin ''sapon'', 'soap' + ''-in'', 'one of') are bitter-tasting, usually toxic plant-derived secondary metabolites. They are organic chemicals that become foamy when agitated in water and have high molecular weight. They are present ...

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widel ...

s. In Iran's

Mazandaran Province Mazandaran Province (; ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari. Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range and Hyrcanian forests, it is bordered clockw ...

, it has been used in various local dishes for centuries.

References

External links

Plant Profile of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland: ''Eryngium campestre'' Distribution Map of ''Eryngium campestre'' in continental France (Telebotanica)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q839771 campestre Flora of Europe Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Lebanon