''Pedicularis'' is a genus of

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

green root parasite plants currently placed in the family

Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family (biology), family of mostly parasitic plants of the order (biology), order Lamiales, with about 90 genus, genera and more than 2000 species. Many of these genera (e.g., ''Pedicularis'', ''Rhinanthus'', ...

(the genus previously having been placed in

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'').

Uses

Pedicularis is used medicinally in teas and smoking blends.

Taxonomy

The common name lousewort, applied to several species, derives from an old belief that these plants, when ingested, were responsible for

lice Louse (: lice) is the common name for any member of the infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order, until a 2021 genetic study determined th ...

infestations in livestock. The genus name ''Pedicularis'' is from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''pediculus'' meaning louse. Over 600 species are accepted, mostly from the wetter northern temperate zones, as well as from South America. The highest diversity is in eastern Asia, with 352 species accepted in China alone.

Selected species

*'' Pedicularis attollens'' (little elephant's head) *''

Pedicularis bhutanomuscoides ''Pedicularis bhutanomuscoides'' is a species of flowering plant endemic to Bhutan. It occurs on open slopes with ''Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Erica ...

'' *''

Pedicularis bracteosa ''Pedicularis bracteosa'' also known as bracted lousewort is a flowering deciduous perennial plant with alternating cauline leaves that are linear/oblong to lanceolate, approximately 1 to 7 cm long. It has fibrous roots and grows to approximately ...

'' (fern-leaf, towering, or bracted lousewort) Pedicularis caeruleoalbescens Wendelbo *''

Pedicularis cacuminidenta ''Pedicularis cacuminidenta'' is a species of flowering plant endemic to Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India ...

'' *''

Pedicularis canadensis ''Pedicularis canadensis'', commonly called Canadian lousewort or wood betony,Pedicularis centranthera ''Pedicularis centranthera'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae known by the common names dwarf lousewort and Great Basin lousewort. It is native to the western United States from eastern Oregon and California to Colorado ...

'' *''

Pedicularis contorta ''Pedicularis contorta'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae known by the common names coiled lousewort and curved-beak lousewort. It is native to western North America, including southwestern Canada and the northwestern U ...

'' (coiled lousewort or white-coiled beak lousewort) *''

Pedicularis dasyantha ''Pedicularis dasyantha'', the woolly lousewort or arctic hairy lousewort, is a plant native to the high arctic areas of Svalbard, Novaya Zemlya and the bordering mainland, and the western Taymyr Peninsula. In Svalbard it is restricted to the ma ...

'' (woolly lousewort) *''

Pedicularis densiflora ''Pedicularis densiflora'', known commonly as Indian warrior or warrior's-plume lousewort, is a plant in the family Orobanchaceae. Indian warrior is native to California and Oregon in western North America and is found in chaparral, forests, C ...

'' (Indian warrior) *''

Pedicularis dhurensis ''Pedicularis dhurensis'' is a species of 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, vesse ...

'' *''

Pedicularis dudleyi ''Pedicularis dudleyi'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae known by the common name Dudley's lousewort. It is endemic to central California, where it is known from about ten scattered occurrences along the coast and ...

'' (Dudley's lousewort) *''

Pedicularis elephantiflora ''Pedicularis elephantiflora'' is a species of 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, ...

'' *''

Pedicularis flammea ''Pedicularis flammea'' is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family (biology), family of mostly parasitic plants of the order (biology), order Lamiales, with about 90 genus, ...

'' (redrattle) *''

Pedicularis foliosa ''Pedicularis'' is a genus of perennial green root parasite plants currently placed in the family Orobanchaceae (the genus previously having been placed in Scrophulariaceae ''sensu lato''). Uses Pedicularis is used medicinally in teas and s ...

'' (leafy lousewort) *''

Pedicularis furbishiae ''Pedicularis furbishiae'', or Furbish's lousewort, is a perennial herb found only on the shores of the upper Saint John River in Maine and New Brunswick. Furbish's lousewort was first recognized as a new species by Maine naturalist and botanica ...

'' (Furbish's lousewort) *''

Pedicularis groenlandica ''Pedicularis groenlandica'' is a showy flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae commonly known as elephant's head, little pink elephant, elephantella, or similar common names inspired by the resemblance of the flower to the head of an elepha ...

'' (elephant's head) *''

Pedicularis hirsuta ''Pedicularis hirsuta'', commonly known as hairy lousewort, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Orobanchaceae. It is a semi-parasitic plant. Its native range is subarctic. Description ''Pedicularis hirsuta'' is a low, solita ...

'' (hairy lousewort) *'' Pedicularis howellii'' (Howell's lousewort) *'' Pedicularis kaufmannii'' *''

Pedicularis lanata ''Pedicularis lanata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae. It is native to Canada and Alaska. Its common names include woolly lousewort and bumble-bee flower. Description The plant has a wooly stem tall which grows from ...

'' *''

Pedicularis lanceolata ''Pedicularis lanceolata'', the swamp lousewort, is a species of flowering plant native to the Midwestern The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions ...

'' *'' Pedicularis lapponica'' (Lapland lousewort) *'' Pedicularis oederi'' (crimson-tipped lousewort) *'' Pedicularis ornithorhyncha'' (duck's-bill/bird's-beak lousewort) *'' Pedicularis oxycarpa'' *'' Pedicularis palustris'' (marsh lousewort) *'' Pedicularis parryi'' (Parry's lousewort) *'' Pedicularis procera'' (giant lousewort) *'' Pedicularis racemosa'' (sickle-top lousewort, parrot's beak) *''

Pedicularis rainierensis ''Pedicularis rainierensis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae commonly known as Mount Rainier lousewort. It is endemic to the vicinity of Mount Rainier in Washington state. The Mount Rainier lousewort has a imperiled s ...

'' (

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier ( ), also known as Tahoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With an off ...

lousewort) *'' Pedicularis rostratocapitata'' *''

Pedicularis sceptrum-carolinum ''Pedicularis sceptrum-carolinum'', commonly known as moor-king or moor-king lousewort, is a plant species in the genus ''Pedicularis ''Pedicularis'' is a genus of Perennial plant, perennial green Parasitic plant, root parasite plants curren ...

'' (Moor-king lousewort) *'' Pedicularis semibarbata'' (pinewoods lousewort) *''

Pedicularis sudetica ''Pedicularis sudetica'', common names of which are fernweed, Sudeten lousewort, Sedetic lousewort, and Sudetic lousewort is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae which is native to Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, and northe ...

'' (fernweed, Sudeten lousewort or Sedetic lousewort) *''

Pedicularis sylvatica ''Pedicularis sylvatica'', commonly known as common lousewort, is a plant species in the genus ''Pedicularis''. It is native to central and northern Europe where it grows on moist acidic soils, moorland, grassy heathland and the drier parts of ma ...

'' (common lousewort) *''

Pedicularis verticillata ''Pedicularis verticillata'', the whorled lousewort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae which can be found in Alaska, North-Western Canada, and everywhere in China at the elevation of . Its native habitats include moist m ...

'' (verticillate lousewort)

Pollination

Bombus polaris ''Bombus polaris'' is a common Arctic bumblebee species. ''B. polaris'' is one of two bumblebees that live above the Arctic Circle. The other is its social parasite ''Bombus hyperboreus''. ''B. polaris'' is a social bee that can survive at near f ...

'' has an essential role in the pollination of the large

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 spir ...

flowers of ''Pedicularis''. ''B. polaris'' has a special adaption that allows it to work the spikes of ''Pedicularis'' from the bottom towards the top.

References

Flora Europaea: ''Pedicularis''
{{Authority control Orobanchaceae genera Parasitic plants Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus