''Lithospermum'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

plant Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...

s belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the orde ...

. The genus is distributed nearly worldwide, but most are native to the Americas and the

center of diversity A center of origin is a geographical area where a group of organisms, either domesticated or wild, first developed its distinctive properties. They are also considered centers of diversity. Centers of origin were first identified in 1924 by N ...

is in the

southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, N ...

and

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. Species are known generally as gromwells or stoneseeds.

Taxonomy

There are about 50, to 60 species in the genus.Cohen, J. I., (2012)
Comparative floral development in ''Lithospermum'' (Boraginaceae) and implications for the evolution and development of heterostyly.
''American Journal of Botany'' 99(5), 797–805. Some species, such as ''

Lithospermum arvense ''Lithospermum arvense'' (syn. ''Buglossoides arvensis''), known as field gromwell, corn gromwell, bastard alkanet, stone seed and Ahiflower®, is a flowering plant of the family Boraginaceae. It is native to Europe and Asia, as far north as Ko ...

'', are sometimes classified in the genus '' Buglossoides'', but that genus is subsumed into ''Lithospermum'' by works such as the ''Flora of China''. In addition, a 2009 molecular study showed that the genus ''Onosmodium'' should be included within ''Lithospermum''. Species include: *''

'' (syn. ''Buglossoides arvensis'') – field gromwell, corn gromwell *''

Lithospermum azuayensis ''Lithospermum azuayensis'' is a flowering plant of the family Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. The AP ...

''Weigend, M., et al. (2010)
Five new species of ''Lithospermum'' L.(Boraginaceae tribe Lithospermeae) in Andean South America: another radiation in the Amotape-Huancabamba zone.
''Taxon'' 59(4), 1161–1179. *'' Lithospermum bejariense'' – western marbleseed *'' Lithospermum bolivariensis'' *'' Lithospermum californicum'' – California stoneseed *'' Lithospermum calycosum'' – Chinati stoneseed *'' Lithospermum canescens'' – hoary puccoon, Indian-paint *'' Lithospermum caroliniense'' – Carolina gromwell, hairy puccoon *'' Lithospermum cobrense'' – smooththroat stoneseed *'' Lithospermum confine'' – Arizona stoneseed *'' Lithospermum cuzcoensis'' *'' Lithospermum erythrorhizon'' – purple gromwell, red-root gromwell, 紫草 ''zicao'' (

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

: zǐcǎo), 紫草 ''murasaki･sō'' (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

) *'' Lithospermum hancockianum'' *''

Lithospermum incisum ''Lithospermum incisum'' is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by several common names, including fringed puccoon, narrowleaf stoneseed, fringed gromwell, narrowleaf puccoon, and plains stoneseed. It is native to much of cen ...

'' – narrowleaf stoneseed, fringed gromwell *'' Lithospermum latifolium'' – American stoneseed *'' Lithospermum leymebambensis'' *'' Lithospermum macbridei'' *'' Lithospermum matamorense'' – rough stoneseed *''

Lithospermum mirabile ''Lithospermum'' is a genus of plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. The genus is distributed nearly worldwide, but most are native to the Americas and the center of diversity is in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Species are kn ...

'' – San Antonio stoneseed *''

Lithospermum molle ''Lithospermum molle'', the softhair marbleseed, is a species of flowering plant in the forget-me-not family. This species is a narrow endemic, native primarily to the Nashville Basin of Tennessee, where it is found in limestone prairies near c ...

'' – softhair marbleseed *'' Lithospermum multiflorum'' – manyflowered stoneseed *'' Lithospermum obtusifolium'' – roundleaf stoneseed *''

Lithospermum officinale ''Lithospermum officinale'', or common gromwell or European stoneseed, is a flowering plant species in the family ''Boraginaceae'', native to Eurasia. It is the host plant for caterpillars of the monophagous moth ''Ethmia dodecea''. Descriptio ...

'' – common gromwell, European stoneseed *''

Lithospermum parksii ''Lithospermum'' is a genus of plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. The genus is distributed nearly worldwide, but most are native to the Americas and the center of diversity is in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Species are kn ...

'' – Parks' stoneseed *''

Lithospermum parviflorum ''Lithospermum parviflorum'', commonly called Eastern Prairie Marbleseed, is a species of flowering plant in the forget-me-not family. It is native to the eastern North America. This species is a robust perennial. It produces a cyme of cream c ...

'' – eastern prairie marbleseed *''

Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum ''Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum'' (syn. ''Buglossoides purpurocaerulea''), the purple gromwell, is a herbaceous perennial rhizomatous plant of the genus ''Lithospermum'', belonging to the family Boraginaceae. Etymology The Latin name of the spe ...

'' (syn. ''Buglossoides purpurocaerulea'') – purple gromwell *'' Lithospermum rodriguezii'' *'' Lithospermum ruderale'' – western stoneseed, Columbia puccoon, wayside gromwell, whiteweed *''

Lithospermum tuberosum ''Lithospermum tuberosum'', commonly called the southern stoneseed or tuberous stoneseed, is a species of flowering plant in the forget-me-not family Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, ...

'' – southern stoneseed, tuberous gromwell *''

Lithospermum viride ''Lithospermum'' is a genus of plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. The genus is distributed nearly worldwide, but most are native to the Americas and the center of diversity is in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Species are kn ...

'' – green stoneseed

Ecology

''Lithospermum'' leaves are eaten by the

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larva, larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterfly, butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawfly ...

s of certain Lepidoptera, such as the

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of ...

'' Ethmia pusiella'' which has been recorded on ''L. officinale''.

Uses

The dried root of ''Lithospermum erythrorhizon'' is a Chinese herbal medicine with various antiviral and biological activities, including inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). '' Lithospermum erythrorhizon'' is native to Japan, where it has been traditionally used to make a

purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, ...

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and ...

. In southwestern North America, a species of this genus was used as a contraceptive by the

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, e ...

Native American tribe.

Fossil record

petrified In geology, petrifaction or petrification () is the process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with minerals. Petrified wood typifies this proce ...

nutlets and nutlet fragments of a ''Lithospermum'' species have been described from the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million years ago) to 5.333 Ma. The ...

Ash Hollow Formation, Ogallala Group, five km south of Martin in

Bennett County Bennett County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,381. Its county seat is Martin. The county lies completely within the exterior boundary of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. To the east ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. †''Lithospermum dakotense'' sp. nov. shows similarities in size, shape, attachment and

epidermal The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rele ...

cell patterns to extant ''Lithospermum'' species. The

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

nutlets were preserved in various stages of maturity. The fossils closely resemble the nutlets of '' Lithospermum caroliniense'' and ''

''.Amer. J. Bot. 74(11): 1690-1693. 1987. A Fossil Lithospermum (Boraginaceae) from the Tertiary of South Dakota by Mark L. Gabel

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q932776 Boraginaceae genera