Teucrium Cyprium

''Teucrium'' is a cosmopolitan genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, commonly known as germanders. Plants in this genus are perennial herbs or shrubs, with branches that are more or less square in cross-section, leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and flowers arranged in thyrses, the corolla with mostly white to cream-coloured, lobed petals.

Description

Plants in the genus ''Teucrium'' are perennial herbs or shrubs with four-cornered stems, often with simple hairs and sessile glands. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, simple or with three leaflets sometimes with lobed or serrated edges. The flowers are arranged in a thyrse, sometimes in a cyme in leaf axils. The flowers have five more or less similar sepals fused at the base, and the corolla is white or cream-coloured with five lobes forming two lips. The upper lip is usually much reduced in size and the lower lip has three lobes, the central lobe usually larger than the side lobes. There are four stamens attached near the base of the petals and the fruit is a schizocarp with four segments.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Teucrium'' was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in ''Species Plantarum''. The name ''Teucrium'' was used by Pedanius Dioscorides for several species in this genus, and is believed to refer to King Teucer of Troy who used the plant in his medicine.

Species

(See also List of ''Teucrium'' species)

''Teucrium'' is a cosmopolitan genus with about 300 species, the distribution centred on the Mediterranean. There are about thirteen species endemic to Australia.

Selected species

* ''Teucrium albicaule'' Toelken – scurfy germander (Australia)
* ''Teucrium arduinoi'' L.
* ''Teucrium argutum'' R.Br. – native germander (Qld., N.S.W.)
* ''Teucrium aroanium'' Orph. ex Boiss.
* ''Teucrium balfourii'' Vierh.
* ''Teucrium balthazaris'' Sennen
* ''Teucrium betonicum'' L'Hér.
* ''Teucrium botrys'' L. – cut-leaved germander
* ''Teucrium canadense'' L. – American germander, Canada germander, wood sage, hairy germander
* ''Teucrium capitatum'' L.
* '' Teucrium carolipaui'' C. Vicioso ex Pau
* '' Teucrium chamaedrys'' L. – wall germander
* ''Teucrium chardonianum'' Maire & Wilczek
* ''Teucrium coahuilanum'' B.L.Turner
* ''Teucrium corymbosum'' R.Br. – forest germander (Australia, New Guinea)
* ''Teucrium cossonii'' D.Wood – fruity teucrium
* ''Teucrium creticum'' L.
* ''Teucrium cubense'' Jacq. – small coastal germander, dwarf germander
* ''Teucrium eremaeum'' Diels (W.A.)
* ''Teucrium divaricatum'' Sieber ex Heldr.
* ''Teucrium flavum'' L.
* ''Teucrium fruticans'' L. – tree germander, shrubby germander
* ''Teucrium glandulosum'' Kellogg – common germander, desert germander, sticky germander
* '' Teucrium gnaphalodes'' L’Hér.
* ''Teucrium grandiusculum'' F.Muell. & Tate (W.A., S.A., N.T.)
* ''Teucrium heterophyllum'' L’Hér.
* ''Teucrium integrifolium'' Benth. – teucry weed (W.A., N.T., Qld.)
*''Teucrium junceum''
* ''Teucrium laciniatum'' Torr. – germander, lacy germander
* ''Teucrium lepicephalum'' Pau
* ''Teucrium marum'' L.
* ''Teucrium massiliense'' L.
* '' Teucrium montanum'' L.
* ''Teucrium oliverianum'' Ging. ex Benth.
* ''Teucrium orientale'' L. – oriental germander
* ''Teucrium polium'' L.
* ''Teucrium pseudochamaepitys'' L.
* ''Teucrium puberulum''
* ''Teucrium pyrenaicum'' L.
* ''Teucrium racemosum'' – forest germander
* '' Teucrium scordium'' L.
* '' Teucrium scorodonia'' L. – woodland germander
* ''Teucrium socotranum'' Vierh.
* ''Teucrium subspinosum'' Pourr. ex Willd.
* ''Teucrium teucriiflorum'' (F.Muell.) Kattari & Salmaki
* ''Teucrium townsendii''
** ''Teucrium townsendii'' ssp. ''affine''
** ''Teucrium townsendii'' var. ''townsendii''
* ''Teucrium vesicarium'' Mill.
* ''Teucrium viscidum'' Blume
* ''Teucrium werneri'' Emb.

Fossil record

†''Teucrium tatjanae'' seed fossils are known from the Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene, Miocene and Pliocene of central and southern Russia and Miocene of Lusatia. The fossil seeds are similar to seeds of the extant ''Teucrium orientale''.
†''Teucrium pripiatense'' seed fossils have been described from the Pliocene Borsoni Formation in the Rhön Mountains of central Germany.The floral change in the tertiary of the Rhön mountains (Germany) by Dieter Hans Mai - Acta Paleobotanica 47(1): 135-143, 2007.

References

External links

USDA PLANTS Profile

{{Taxonbar, from=Q157714

*
Lamiaceae genera
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus