Amianthium
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Italic title". Template:Speciesbox
Amianthium is a North American genus of perennial plants growing from bulbs. It contains the single known species Amianthium muscitoxicum, known in English as fly poison from a literal translation of the Latin epithet muscitoxicum, and is noted for its pretty flowers and its toxic alkaloid content. While all parts of the plant are poisonous, the bulb is particularly toxic. The scientific epithet was given to it by Thomas Walter when he published his Flora Caroliniana in 1788.
The bulb was mixed with sugar by American colonists to kill flies.[1][2]
The toxic alkaloids present in the roots and leaves include jervine and amianthine.[1] Amianthium is self-incompatible and is pollinated mostly by beetles.[1] It is native to eastern North America, as far north as Pennsylvania, west roughly to the Appalachian Mountains (with an additional area in the Ozarks), and south to northern Florida and eastern Louisiana.[1][3]
Within the family Melanthiaceae, Amianthium is a member of the tribe Melanthieae. Molecular phylogenetic studies in the 21st century have resulted in some changes to placements within this tribe. A. muscitoxicum has sometimes been placed in the genus Zigadenus (as Z. muscitoxicus); however its position as a separate genus is consistent with currently available information.[4] (See also Phylogeny of Melanthieae.)
Amianthium species which have been placed in other genera include:[5]
- Amianthium angustifolium Template:Au now called Stenanthium densum Template:Au
- Amianthium aspericaule Template:Au now called Triantha glutinosa Template:Au
- Amianthium leimanthoides Template:Au now called Stenanthium densum Template:Au
- Amianthium nuttallii Template:Au now called Toxicoscordion nuttallii Template:Au
- Amianthium texanum Template:Au now called Stenanthium densum Template:Au
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Appalachian Wildflowers by Thomas E. Hemmerly. University of Georgia Press, Template:ISBN
- ↑ Biota of North American Program 2014 county distribution map
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". (search on Amianthium)
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Nash, L., & Steven, J. C. (2019). Patterns of resource allocation in fly poison (Amianthium muscaetoxicum). Bios, 89(3), 113–117.
Citations
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Illustration from Britton & Brown's An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. (1913) as Chrosperma muscitoxicum
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".