''Adoxa moschatellina'', the moschatel, five-faced bishop, hollowroot, muskroot, townhall clock, tuberous crowfoot or Good Friday plant, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in 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 ...

Adoxaceae. This

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

has a

holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical regi ...

distribution occurring at low altitudes in high latitudes, and at high altitudes in the south of its range. It prefers damp shady situations.

Description

''Adoxa moschatellina'' is a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow h ...

plant growing in mats with a delicate appearance. It has thin, erect unbranched stems which end in clusters of five green flowers which are across. These flowers give the species one of its common names, "Town Hall clock", as they face outwards in four directions at 90 degrees to each other, resembling the four faces of a town clock. The flowers have five petals and five stamens, but the stamens are divided into two parts creating the impression that there are ten stamens. When it is not in flower it can be hard to tell ''A. moschatellina'' from other plants with similar foliage. The plant and its flowers have a musk-like scent, which it emits towards evening when the dew falls. If the plant is bruised this scent disappears.

Distribution

''Adoxa moschatellina'' has a boreal, circumpolar distribution in Europe, Asia and North America. It is widespread and common in most parts of the British Isles but becomes scarce in the north and west of Scotland and parts of eastern England. It is absent from Ireland. Its distribution in parts of Wales is localised, occurring only at sites where are base rich soil, such as

Coed Dolgarrog National Nature Reserve Coed Dolgarrog National Nature Reserve is a nature reserve which covers the steep western side of the Conwy Valley, outside the village of Dolgarrog, around 10 kilometres south of Conwy and 6.5 kilometres north of Llanrwst in Conwy County Boroug ...

Conwy Conwy (, ), previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town, community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy o ...

Habitat and ecology

''Adoxa moschatellina'' grows in humid brown soils under shade on the banks of rivers and streams, in deciduous woodlands and under hedgerows. It does infrequently grow in shaded base-rich localities in uplands. This spring-flowering species dies back after flowering in May or June in low-lying areas. The flowers are self-fertile and this species may reproduce by producing seeds or by vegetative spread. In Britain its altitude ranges from on

Ben Lawers Ben Lawers ( gd, Beinn Labhair) is the highest mountain in the Breadalbane region of the Scottish Highlands. It lies north of Loch Tay and is the highest peak of the 'Ben Lawers group', a ridge that includes six other Munros: Beinn Ghlas, Meal ...

. The rather plain flowers of ''A. moschatellina'' are pollinated by

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

and nocturnal

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 ...

s which do not rely on colour to pollinate plants. It is parasitized by the rare smut '' Melanotaenium adoxae''.

References

External links

Moschatel, from "A Modern Herbal"
{{Taxonbar, from=Q34169 Adoxaceae Ephemeral plants Flora of Asia Flora of Canada Flora of Europe Flora of Pakistan Flora of New York (state) Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus