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Cicerbita
	Cicerbita alpina
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Subfamily:	Cichorioideae
Tribe:	Cichorieae
Subtribe:	Lactucinae
Genus:	Cicerbita; Wallr.
Synonyms
	Agathyrsus D.Don, (1829) ; Eunoxis Raf., (1838), nom. superfl. ; Galathenium Nutt., (1841) ; Garacium Gren. & Godr., (1850) ; Kovalevskiella Kamelin, (1993) ; Steptorhamphus Bunge, (1851) ;

Cicerbita is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Asia and Europe.^[1]^[2] They are known commonly as blue sow thistles.^[3] The word Cicerbita is from the Italian, meaning "chickory-like", a comparison to Cichorium, the chicory genus.^[4]

Description

Cicerbita are usually perennial plants, often with rhizomes.^[5] Annual species are also known.^[6] The leaves are undivided or pinnate. The flower head has 5 to 30 florets in shades of blue or purple, or occasionally white^[5] or yellow.^[6] The achene is ribbed and has a pappus of bristles and hairs.^[5]

Systematics

The plants of this genus were included in genus Lactuca, the lettuces, until 1822,^[7] when the first of them were separated based on the morphology of the fruits.^[6] The definition of the genus is still in debate and very unclear.

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus Cicerbita:^[8]

Cicerbita acuminata Grossh.
Cicerbita adenophora (Boiss. & Kotschy) Beauverd
Cicerbita alii Roohi Bano & Qaiser
Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallr.
Cicerbita auriculiformis (C.Shih) N.Kilian
Cicerbita azurea (Ledeb.) Beauverd
Cicerbita benthamii (C.B.Clarke) Roohi Bano & Qaiser
Cicerbita boissieri (Rouy) C.Jeffrey
Cicerbita bourgaei (Boiss.) Beauverd
Cicerbita brassicifolia (Boiss.) Beauverd
Cicerbita chiangdaoensis H.Koyama – Thailand
Cicerbita crambifolia (Bunge) Beauverd
Cicerbita crassicaulis (Trautv.) Beauverd
Cicerbita cyprica (Rech.f.) M.Güzel, Coșkunç. & N.Kilian
Cicerbita deltoidea (M.Bieb.) Beauverd
Cicerbita × favratii Wilczek
Cicerbita garrettii (Kerr) H.Koyama
Cicerbita kovalevskiana Kirp.
Cicerbita ladyginii (Tzvelev) N.Kilian
Cicerbita macrophylla (Willd.) Wallr.
Cicerbita madatapensis Gagnidze
Cicerbita microcephala (DC.) M.Güzel, Coșkunç. & N.Kilian
Cicerbita mulgedioides Beauverd
Cicerbita neglecta (Tzvelev) N.Kilian
Cicerbita nepalensis Kitam. – Nepal
Cicerbita nuristanica Kitam. – Afghanistan
Cicerbita olgae Leskov
Cicerbita pancicii Beauverd
Cicerbita persica Beauverd
Cicerbita picridiformis (Boiss.) Roohi Bano & Qaiser
Cicerbita plumieri (L.) Kirschl.
Cicerbita prenanthoides (M.Bieb.) Beauverd
Cicerbita putii (Kerr) H.Koyama
Cicerbita racemosa (Willd.) Beauverd
Cicerbita rechingeriana (Tuisl) Coșkunç., M.Güzel & N.Kilian
Cicerbita roborowskii (Maxim.) Beauverd
Cicerbita rosea (Popov & Vved.) Krasch. ex Kovalevsk.
Cicerbita sonchifolia (Vis. & Pančić) Beauverd
Cicerbita songarica (Regel) Krasch.
Cicerbita subplumosa (Kovalevsk.) M.Güzel, Coșkunç. & N.Kilian
Cicerbita thianschanica Beauverd – Altay Republic, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang
Cicerbita variabilis (Bornm.) Bornm.
Cicerbita zeravschanica Popov – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
Cicerbita zhenduoi (S.W.Liu & T.N.Ho) N.Kilian

Uses

Cicerbita alpina is eaten as a vegetable in Italy, part of its native range. The young shoots are boiled and served in olive oil or tomato sauce. They are considered a delicacy and can be had in restaurants.^[9] The shoots in oil can be purchased in markets under the local name insalata dell'orso ("bear salad").^[4] The plant is collected from the wild and there is some concern that it may be threatened with overexploitation, so local ordinances now limit wild collection in some areas. Field trials are underway to examine the possibility of cultivating the plant in agriculture.^[9]

References

^ Wallroth, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm. 1823. Schedulae Criticae de Plantis Florae Halensis Selectis. Corollarium novum ad C. Sprengelii Floram halensem. Accedunt generum quorundam specierumque omnium definitiones novae, excursus in stirpes difficiliores. Tom. I. Phanerogamia 1: 433
^ Tropicos, Cicerbita Wallr.
^ Genus Cicerbita Wallr. Archived 2012-09-21 at the Wayback Machine Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).
^ ^a ^b Scartezzini, F., et al. (2012). Domestication of alpine blue-sow-thistle (Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallr.): six year trial results. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 59(3) 465-71.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cicerbita. Flora of China.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bano, R. and M. Qaiser. (2010). The genus Cicerbita Wallr. (Cichoriae-Asteraceae) in Pakistan and Kashmir. Pakistan Journal of Botany 42, 35-56.
^ Chu, S. (1991). On circumscription of the genus Cicerbita Wall., and two new genera of Compositae from Sino-Himalayan Region. Archived 2014-11-26 at the Wayback Machine Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 29(5) 394-417.
^ "Cicerbita Wallr. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
^ ^a ^b Scartezzini, F., et al. Domestication and field management trials of Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallr. In: First International Conference on Crop Wild Relative Conservation and Use. September 14–17, 2005. Agrigento, Sicily, Italy. pg. 14-17.