''Bifora'' is a cosmopolitan genus of
flowering plant in the family
Apiaceae, of disjunct distribution, with 3 species, two
Eurasian and one American.
*''Bifora radians'' has a range extending from
Spain eastward through south
central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and
Southern Europe to
Iran.
*''Bifora testiculata'' has a wider and more southerly distribution, extending west–east from Spain to
Uzbekistan and taking in, to the south,
North Africa, the
Levant and
Saudi Arabia.
*''Bifora americana'' (Common name: ''
prairie bishop's weed Bishop's weed is a common name for several plants, all but one of which belong to the plant family Apiaceae.
* ''Aegopodium podagraria'', which is an invasive perennial weed of temperate regions, known also in English as ground elder.
* ''Ammi maju ...
'') has a southerly distribution within the
United States, being confined to
Texas and
Arkansas, although it has also been introduced into
Alabama.
Description
Annual herbs. Leaves doubly pinnatisect. Inflorescence bearing usually both bracts and bracteoles. Sepals absent. Petals white, slightly emarginate, tips inflexed. Fruits schizocarp, the mericarps subglobose with rugose (warty) exteriors and short stylopodium and united by a narrow zone of commissure; ribs insignificant when seen in transverse section; vittae not apparent. Endosperm of seed concave.
Taxonomy
The genus was described by
Georg Franz Hoffmann and published in ''
Genera Plantarum Umbelliferarum'' xxxiv, 191 in
Moscow in the year 1816. The type species is ''Bifora dicocca''
Hoffm., the plant so described being now known correctly as ''Bifora testiculata''.
It is also in Tribe
Coriandreae.
Medicinal Use of ''B. testiculata'' in Jordan
In
Jordan, the
Mediterranean /
South West Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
n species ''B. testiculata'' is known by the
Jordanian Arabic common name كزبرة (''kazbira'') which is also sometimes applied to the closely related Apiaceous herb
(cilantro). A
tisane prepared from the seed-like
mericarp
A schizocarp is a dry fruit that, when mature, splits up into mericarps.
There are different definitions:
* Any dry fruit composed of multiple carpels that separate.
: Under this definition the mericarps can contain one or more seeds (the m ...
fruits is used as a
sedative
A sedative or tranquilliser is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement. They are CNS depressants and interact with brain activity causing its deceleration. Various kinds of sedatives can be distinguished, but t ...
and to treat
stomach pains
Abdominal pain, also known as a stomach ache, is a symptom associated with both non-serious and serious medical issues.
Common causes of pain in the abdomen include gastroenteritis and irritable bowel syndrome. About 15% of people have a mor ...
.
''B. testiculata'' former grain alien in U.K.
A few specimens of ''Bifora testiculata'' were found growing in the north of the British county of
Yorkshire in the years 1893 and 1895, this
introduced plant species having been introduced inadvertently in imported
grain
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...
. The plant had not (as of the year 2000), however, been recorded in the area since.
[Wilmore, G.T.D., ''Alien Plants of Yorkshire'' pub. Yorkshire Naturalists' Union 2000, page 124.]
References
Apioideae genera
{{Apiaceae-stub