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Meum athamanticum Jacq. map
Jacquin, Fl. Austr. 4: 2 (1776). – Athamanta meum L., Sp. Pl.: 245 (1753). – Type: Clifford Herbarium 93, Athamanta 1 (BM) lectotype, sel. by Jarvis & Knees, Taxon 37: 474 (1988).
D Bjørnerod. F karhunjuuri. N bjønnrot. S björnrot.
Hemicryptophyte. Glabrous, aromatic perennial, to 100 cm, usually with several sterile leaf rosettes and a dense sheath of fibres (remains of dead leaves) surrounding the flowering shoots; stock up to 50 cm wide, taproot 7–14 mm thick. Stem solid, or subsequently hollow; basal part 1.5–3.5 mm thick, angular to sulcate, straw-coloured or purplish, slightly glaucous; upper internodes angular to sulcate. Leaves 2–4 at the base and 1–2 on the stem (one of the basal ones is the largest); sheath rather broad, not violet; petiole (3–)8–22 cm; blade 9–28 × 4–13 cm (length/width ratio 1.4–2.8), divided 4–5 times into capillary lobes. Primary lobes several pairs; angle leaflet/rachis 40–50°; longest petiolules 4 mm. Ultimate lobes 3–8 × 0.1–0.3 mm.
Umbels almost flat, 3–4 cm high and 4–7 cm wide; peduncle 4.5–16 cm; rays straight, 2.9–3.5 cm, distinctly unequal in length in the same umbel, glabrous or at the base and the apex indistinctly papillose on the adaxial side. Bracts 0–5, sometimes pinnatifid with linear lobes. Umbellules 12–22; pedicels 0.7–0.8 mm, slightly papillose on the adaxial side. Bractlets 5–12, persistent, 5.5–10 × 0.3–0.6 mm, usually with a narrow whitish membranous border. Flowers actinomorphic to slightly zygomorphic, 20–30 per umbellule; sepals absent; petals white or sometimes light pink, 1.5–2.5 × 0.8–1.5 mm, entire or emarginate (apical cut to 0.3 mm deep); filaments 1.4–2.2 mm; anthers 0.4–0.5 mm. Fruit elliptic to oblong in outline; carpophore slightly flattened, divided to the base. Mericarps 4.6–6.5 × 2–2.6 × 1.3–1.6 mm (length/width ratio 2.3–3); ridges 5, straw-coloured, low; valleculae wide, each with several dark brown vittae visible on the surface; stylopodium conical, 0.5–0.7 mm wide; style 0.6–1 mm, directed outwards or deflexed. – Early summer.
[2n=22]
Distribution and habitat. [BNem–MBor]. – Old in cultivation as an ornamental and earlier also as a medicinal plant. A garden relic or long-lived casual escape or throwout; locally naturalized, e.g. in grassland and woodland margins, at least in N. – D NJy Vrå 1908, Vandet Sø 1974, Års 2006, VJy 7 localities, ØJy Bjerringsbro 1943, Engesvang (2 localities, 1970, 1974), Linde 1985, Sjæ Sorø 1956, Høsterkøb 2000. N resident in Ho Tysnes (meadow, known since the beginning of the 19th century) and Kvam (overgrown grassland, since 1927); casual and rare in the western lowlands from AA Grimstad to ST Trondheim; Ak Oslo 1971 (open, grazed forest), Op Lillehammer 1967 (churchyard). S casual and rare north to Hl Onsala, SmI Bringetofta and Klm Tveta; Nrk Tysslinge since 1949 (power-line track), Hls Bjuråker 2008, Söderhamn (2 localities) 1984. F EP Kaskinen (found 1956, 1959) and Vaasa (found 1949, 1953), regarded as a German polemochore; an escape from cultivation at least in V Lohja 1989 and PH Vesanto (1936, 1959). – Reports from S Upl (Jonsell 1997) were possibly based on cultivated specimens, and also several of the localities in N (Lid & Lid 2005).
Mountains in W, C and S Europe.
Biology. Umbellules of primary and secondary umbels have bisexual outer flowers and male inner ones (secondary umbels sometimes have only male flowers). Tertiary umbels have only male flowers.
Variation. Specimens of Meum athamanticum from the naturalized populations in N are generally smaller than the escapes met with elsewhere.
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