Canadian tormentil

Canadian tormentil
Canadian tormentil
Systematics
Eudicotyledons Order : Buttercups (Ranunculales) Family : Poppy Family (Papaveraceae) Subfamily : Papaveroideae Genre : Sanguinaria Type : Canadian tormentil
Scientific name of the  genus
Sanguinaria
L.
Scientific name of the  species
Sanguinaria canadensis
L.

Occurrence

Drawing Canadian tormentil

The Canadian bloodroot ( Sanguinaria canadensis L. ) is the only species from the monotypic genus Sanguinaria (bloodroot) in the poppy family Papaveraceae . The Canadian tormentil is not related to the Eurasian tormentil ( Potentilla erecta ) from the rose family .

The generic name Sanguinaria is derived from the Latin word "sanguineus" ("blood", "blood red"), as the rhizome contains a blood-red milky sap that was used by the Indians partly for coloring the faces and partly as a medicine.

Occurrence

The perennial is widespread in the eastern part of North America (Canada, USA: New England, NCE, South Carolina; SE, Florida). In parks and gardens the plant can occasionally be found in spring in a light shade.

description

The Canadian tormentil is a perennial up to 40 cm high with a creeping rhizome. The rhizomes are knotty, red-brown, brittle, orange-red "bleeding" if injured. The long-stalked, basal leaves up to 12 cm in diameter are leathery, heart-shaped to kidney-shaped and lobed . The pure white flowers appear in April – May just before the leaves unfold. The plant thrives in humus soil in a slightly shaded location and is already dormant in early summer. Transplanting or dividing the rhizomes should be done during the resting phase.

use

In a slightly shady location, this ornamental shrub is a decorative herald of spring.

The root contains about 1% sanguinarine , an isoquinoline alkaloid that promotes expectoration. In homeopathy , sanguinarine is used to cough up phlegm and to gargle for sore throats. For North American Indians, the Canadian tormentil was a traditional remedy for fever and rheumatism and was used to induce vomiting. If the juice is applied to the skin, this can lead to tissue damage.

sorts

'Major' is a large flowered variety and 'Multiplex' has double flowers that last longer than the species.

Sanguinaria canadensis " Multiplex"

literature

• Leo Jelitto, Wilhelm Schacht, Alfred Feßler: The outdoor ornamental shrubs. Manual and lexicon of hardy garden shrubs. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1990, p. 553
• Robert Zander : Zander. Concise dictionary of plant names. Edited by Walter Erhardt , Erich Götz, Nils Bödeker, Siegmund Seybold . 17th edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3573-6 , p. 743.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Birkhäuser, Basel / Boston / Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-7643-2390-6 , p. 554.
2. ↑ Andrew Chevalier: The great lexicon of medicinal plants . Dorling Kindersley 2001, p. 265

Web links

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