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Cicerbita alpina
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Cicerbita
Species:	C. alpina
Binomial name
	Cicerbita alpina; (L.) Wallr. 1822
Synonyms
	Synonymy Lactuca alpina (L.) A. Gray ; Mulgedium alpinum (L.) Less. ; Sonchus alpinus L. 1753 ; Aracium alpinum (L.) Monnier ; Geracium alpinum (L.) Gren. & Godr. ; Hieracium coeruleum Scop. ; Mulgedium multiflorum DC. ; Picridium alpinum (L.) Philippe ; Sonchus alpestris Clairv. ; Sonchus canadensis L. ; Sonchus coeruleus Sm. ; Sonchus montanus Lam. ; Sonchus multiflorus Desf. ; Sonchus pallidus Torr. 1826 not Willd. 1803 ; Sonchus racemosus Lam. ;

Cicerbita alpina, commonly known as the alpine sow-thistle or alpine blue-sow-thistle^[4] is a perennial herbaceous species of plant sometimes placed in the genus Cicerbita of the family Asteraceae, and sometimes placed in the genus Lactuca as Lactuca alpina.^[5] It is native to upland and mountainous parts of Europe.

It was once used as an herb in Sami cooking, and known as jierja.^[6]

Description

Cicerbita alpina on average reaches 80 centimetres (31 in) in height, with a minimum height of 50 cm (20 in) and a maximum height of 150 cm (59 in). The stem is erect and usually unbranched. It has glandular hairs and contains a white milky juice, a kind of latex. The alternate leaves are broad, triangular and clasping the stem, bluish-grey beneath, hairy along the veins and with toothed margins. The inflorescence is a panicle. Each composite flower is about 2.5 cm (1 in) wide and is set within a whorl of bracts. The individual blue-violet florets are tongue-like with a toothed, truncated tip, each having five stamens and a fused carpel. All the florets are ray florets; there are no disc florets. The seeds are clothed in unbranched hairs. The flowering period extends from June to September in the temperate northern hemisphere.^[7]

Distribution and habitat

Cicerbita alpina grows on many mountains of Europe (the Alps, the Pyrenees, the northern Apennines, the Scandinavian Peninsula, Scotland (where it is endangered and found in only four known locations), the Carpathians and the Urals.^[8] These plants can be found in alpine woods, besides streams, in rich-soil in hollows and in tall meadows, usually between 1,000 and 1,800 metres (3,300 and 5,900 ft) above sea level.^[7]

Conservation

It became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act.^[9]

Ecology

In Finland, this plant is known as "bear-hay" because the Eurasian brown bear feeds on it, as do elk and reindeer. People also sometimes make use of it and eat it raw or cooked in reindeer milk.^[7]

Secondary metabolites

The edible shoots of Cicerbita alpina contain 8-O-Acetyl-15-beta-D-glucopyranosyllactucin, which causes the bitter taste of the vegetable, and caffeic acid derivatives chlorogenic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, caffeoyltartaric acid, and cichoric acid.^[10]