''Amsinckia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s commonly known as fiddlenecks. The

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

derived Derive may refer to: * Derive (computer algebra system), a commercial system made by Texas Instruments * ''Dérive'' (magazine), an Austrian science magazine on urbanism *Dérive, a psychogeographical concept See also * *Derivation (disambiguatio ...

from the flower stems, which curl over at the top in a manner reminiscent of the head of a

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

. Fiddlenecks are in the family

Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the order ...

, along with

borage Borage ( or ; ''Borago officinalis''), also known as starflower, is an annual herb in the flowering plant family Boraginaceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region, and has naturalized in many other locales. It grows satisfactorily in gard ...

and forget-me-nots. The genus is named after the patrician Amsinck family in honour of the Hamburg head of state and patron of botany Wilhelm Amsinck (1752–1831).Umberto Quattrocchi (ed.), ''CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology'',

CRC Press The CRC Press, LLC is an American publishing group that specializes in producing technical books. Many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics. Their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information tec ...

, 2016, p. 263,

Distribution and Description

The fiddlenecks are

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and south-western

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, but they are

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

in other regions. They are annuals, many of them bristly. Most have an erect stem, whose height varies from 20 to 120 cm. In most species the flowers are yellow, often with an orange tinge. Most are found at relatively low

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

s, below 500 metres. The seeds and

foliage A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

of fiddlenecks are poisonous to

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

, particularly

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

, because they contain

alkaloid Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar ...

s and high concentrations of

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...

s. The sharp hairs of the plants can cause skin irritation in humans. However, the shoots, seeds or leaves of several species were used as food by Native Americans, and the plant also had some medicinal uses. The

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

are hard to

distinguish The ruling made by the judge or panel of judges must be based on the evidence at hand and the standard binding precedents covering the subject-matter (they must be ''followed''). Definition In law, to distinguish a case means a court decides the ...

, and their

ranges In the Hebrew Bible and in the Old Testament, the word ranges has two very different meanings. Leviticus In Leviticus 11:35, ranges probably means a cooking furnace for two or more pots, as the Hebrew word here is in the dual number; or perhaps ...

overlap; furthermore, several of them have large numbers of slightly different varieties, and several of the

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

ise naturally. To decide which species a particular specimen belongs to, therefore, is likely to require a detailed examination with an

identification key In biology, an identification key, taxonomic key, or biological key is a printed or computer-aided device that aids the identification of biological entities, such as plants, animals, fossils, microorganisms, and pollen grains. Identification k ...

in hand.

Species

*'' Amsinckia calycina'', Hairy fiddleneck or yellow burweed—Native to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. * '' Amsinckia carinata'', Malheur fiddleneck—Rare. Endemic to

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and listed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

by the state. Has been considered to be a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of '' A. vernicosa'', but this is implausible given the separation of their ranges.Malheur Valley fiddleneck (''Amsinckia carinata'').
Oregon Department of Agriculture. * '' Amsinckia douglasiana'', Douglas' fiddleneck—Uncommon. South Coast and Western Transverse Ranges of California * '' Amsinckia eastwoodiae'', Eastwood's fiddleneck—Lower-lying areas of central and southern California, west of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

* '' Amsinckia grandiflora'', Large-flowered fiddleneck— Central Valley of California.

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to California and listed as

by the state and by the US federal government. * '' Amsinckia lunaris'', Bent-flowered fiddleneck—Uncommon.

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, Inner Coast Ranges and western Central Valley of California. Endemic to California and listed as fairly endangered by the state. * '' Amsinckia lycopsoides'', Tarweed fiddleneck—Common. Found in all the Pacific coast states of the USA (though not east of the Sierra Nevada in California), and into

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

to the east and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

to the north * '' Amsinckia marginata'' — Endemic to Ecuador. * ''

Amsinckia menziesii ''Amsinckia menziesii'' is a species of plant in the family Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family. Varieties The plant has two varieties: :''Amsinckia menziesii'' var. ''intermedia'' - common fiddleneck, intermediate fiddleneck :''Am ...

'', Rancher's fireweed—Abundant throughout the western states of the USA, in British Columbia and in

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, at heights of up to 1700 metres. Also native to South America, and found as an alien species in eastern North America and the Old World. Several varieties recognised. * '' Amsinckia spectabilis'', Seaside fiddleneck or woolly breeches—Found on the Pacific coast of North America from British Columbia to Baja California, and on offshore islands, at heights of up to 300m. * '' Amsinckia tessellata'', Devil's lettuce or bristly fiddleneck—Common. Found at heights up to 2200 metres, in most of California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington; also found in South America. Absent from the Sierra Nevada and the north coastal regions of California. Several varieties recognised. * '' Amsinckia vernicosa'', Green fiddleneck—Uncommon. Found at heights of up to 1500 metres, in the south Coast Ranges of California and the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

References

External links

Jepson Manual treatment of the genusPictures of fiddlenecks in the CalPhotos database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2354690 Boraginaceae genera Flora of California Flora of North America