Lamium album

Lamium album
White dead-nettle in France
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Lamium
Species:
L. album
Binomial name
Lamium album
Close-up of flowers

Lamium album, commonly called white dead-nettle,[2][3] is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is native throughout Europe and Asia, growing in a variety of habitats from open grassland to woodland, generally on moist, fertile soils.

Description

Yellow-haired male Bombus lucorum feeding from Lamium album

Lamium album is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant growing to 70 cm (28 in) tall,[4] with green, four-angled stems. The leaves are 3–8 cm (1–3 in) long and 2–5 cm (3⁄4–2 in) broad, triangular with a rounded base, softly hairy, and with a serrated margin and a petiole up to 5 cm (2 in) long; like many other members of the Lamiaceae, they appear superficially similar to those of the stinging nettle Urtica dioica but do not sting,[4] hence the common name "dead-nettle". The flowers are white, produced in whorls ('verticillasters') on the upper part of the stem, the individual flowers 1.5–2.5 cm (5⁄8–1 in) long.

Phytochemistry

Various polyphenolic glycosides such as Lamalboside and Verbascoside, Tiliroside and 5-caffeoylquinic acid along with Rutoside and quercetin 3-O-glucoside and kaempferol 3-O-glucoside can be isolated from the flowers of L. album.[5] The plant also contains the iridoid glycosides lamalbid, alboside A and B, and caryoptoside[6] as well as the hemiterpene glucoside hemialboside.[7]

L.album was a source of chlorophyll and other plant pigments for Mikhail Tsvet, the inventor of adsorption chromatography.[8]

Taxonomy

Lamium album was described and named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.[1]

Distribution and habitat

L. album is native to Eurasia, from Ireland in the west to Japan in the east. It has three subspecies, subsp. album in the western part of the range, subsp. crinitum in the southern part in southwest Asia (Turkey to Nepal), and subsp. barbatum in the far east of mainland Asia and in Japan.[9][10] It is common in England, rare in the west and northern Scotland, and introduced to eastern Ireland.[11] It is abundant in the British Isles, where it is found on roadsides, around hedges, and in abandoned places.[2][12][13]

L. album was introduced to North America, where it is widely naturalised.

Ecology

The flowers are visited by many types of insects, but mostly by long-tongued insects, like bees.[14] Bumblebees are especially attracted to the flowers, which are a good source of early nectar and pollen, hence the plant is sometimes called the bee nettle.[15][16]

Uses

The young shoots and leaves can be cooked as a vegetable.[4]

Cultural significance

A distillation of the flowers is reputed "to make the heart merry, to make a good colour in the face, and to make the vital spirits more fresh and lively."[17]

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Lamium album L.". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b P.A. Stroh; T. A. Humphrey; R.J. Burkmar; O.L. Pescott; D.B. Roy; K.J. Walker, eds. (2020). "White Dead-nettle Lamium album L." BSBI Online Plant Atlas 2020. Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  3. ^ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  4. ^ a b c Francis-Baker, Tiffany (2021). Concise Foraging Guide. The Wildlife Trusts. London: Bloomsbury. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-4729-8474-6.
  5. ^ Phenylpropanoid esters from Lamium album flowers. Jaromir Budzianowski and Lutoslawa Skrzypczak, Phytochemistry, March 1995, Volume 38, Issue 4, Pages 997–1001, doi:10.1016/0031-9422(94)00727-B
  6. ^ Iridoid glucosides from Lamium album. Søren Damtoft, Phytochemistry, January 1992, Volume 31, Issue 1, Pages 175–178, doi:10.1016/0031-9422(91)83030-O
  7. ^ Hemialboside, a hemiterpene glucoside from Lamium album. Søren Damtoft and Søren Rosendal Jensen, Phytochemistry, July 1995, Volume 39, Issue 4, Pages 923–924, doi:10.1016/0031-9422(95)00085-L
  8. ^ Source book in chemistry 1900-1950, edited by Henry Leicester, p.23.
  9. ^ POWO. "Lamium album L." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  10. ^ Anderberg, A. "Den Virtuella Floran: Lamium album L." Museum of Natural History, Stockholm. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  11. ^ Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-04656-4
  12. ^ Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. p.360 Cork University Press. ISBN 978-185918-4783
  13. ^ Hackney, P. (Ed) 1992. Stewart and Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland. Institute of Irish Studies and The Queen's University of Belfast. ISBN 0-85389-446-9
  14. ^ Van Der Kooi, C. J.; Pen, I.; Staal, M.; Stavenga, D. G.; Elzenga, J. T. M. (2015). "Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers". Plant Biology. 18 (1): 56–62. doi:10.1111/plb.12328. PMID 25754608.
  15. ^ botanical.com - A Modern Herbal | Nettles
  16. ^ "White dead-nettle | the Wildlife Trusts".
  17. ^ Mrs M. Grieve (1931). "NETTLE, WHITE DEAD". A Modern Herbal. Botanical.com.
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