Arctopus

This article is about the plant. For the band, see Behold...The Arctopus.

Arctopus
Arctopus echinatus, female plant in flower
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Subfamily: Apioideae
Tribe: Saniculeae
Genus: Arctopus
L.
Species
Arctopus echinatus, male plant in flower.

Arctopus is a genus of flowering plants in the Apiaceae, with three species. The genus is endemic to Southern Africa. The genus name means "bears foot" (from ἄρκτος árktos "bear" and πούς pous "foot") in reference to the curious growth habit, resembling a large footprint, if not to the fact that the leaves are fringed with formidable prickles that punish bare feet and grazing.

The species were used in Khoisan medicine and adopted by the early settlers who gave them the Afrikaans name of sieketroos (= "sickness-comfort" i.e. "sickness remedy")[1]

The species are atypical of the Apiaceae in that the leaves grow flat on the ground, and that the plants are dioecious, with the male and female flowers borne on separate plants.[2]

  • Paw print of a bear, showing similarity to curious outline of Arctopus foliage - whence genus name
    Paw print of a bear, showing similarity to curious outline of Arctopus foliage - whence genus name

References

  1. ^ Magee, A.R; Van Wyk, B.-E; Van Vuuren, S.F (2007). "Ethnobotany and antimicrobial activity of sieketroos (Arctopus species)". South African Journal of Botany. 73: 159–162. doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2006.06.009.
  2. ^ Magee, Anthony R.; van Wyk, Ben-Erik; Tilney, Patricia M.; van der Bank, Michelle (2008). "A Taxonomic Revision of the South African Endemic Genus Arctopus (Apiaceae, Saniculoideae)". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 95 (3): 471–486. doi:10.3417/2005174. JSTOR 25488206.


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