''Leonurus sibiricus'', commonly called honeyweed or Siberian motherwort, is an herbaceous plant species native to China, Mongolia, and Siberia. It has
verticillaster inflorescence. It is naturalized in many other parts of the world, including South, Central and North Americas.
Description
''Leonurus sibiricus'' is an herbaceous
annual
Annual may refer to:
*Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year
** Yearbook
** Literary annual
*Annual plant
*Annual report
*Annual giving
*Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco
*Annuals (band), ...
or
biennial
Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years.
In particular, it can refer to:
* Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and th ...
with upright stems that grow from tall. Plants have long petioled basal leaves that are ovate-cordate in shape. The leaves have toothed margins and are incised with deeply cut lobes. Typically one or a few flowering stems are produced from short tap-roots. The lower stem leaves are
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
and wither away as the plants begin blooming. The
petioles of the leaves, midway up the stems are long. The flowers are produced in many flowered verticillasters, produced in
whorls
A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs).
Whorls in nature
File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...
around the top half or more of the stem. The flowers are
sessile
Sessility, or sessile, may refer to:
* Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about
* Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant
* Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...
with long
calices that are tubular-campanulate in shape. The
corolla is white or reddish to purple-red, with an upper lip that is oblong in shape and longer than the lower lip. When flowering is done, brown oblong shaped
nutlet
A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, a wide variety of dry seeds are called nuts, but in a botanical context "nut" implies that the shell ...
s are produced in good number. Blooming occurs from July into late September, but flowering can occur year-round when climate permits.
This species' habitat within its natural range is stony or sandy grasslands or pine forests.
Alkaloids
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 isolated from the plant include:
*
Cycloleonurinine
*
Leoheterin
*
Leonurine
Leonurine (also known as "SCM-198" in research) is a pseudoalkaloid that has been isolated from ''Leonotis leonurus'', ''Leonotis nepetifolia'', ''Leonurus japonicus'', '' Leonurus cardiaca'' (motherwort), '' Leonurus sibiricus'', as well as oth ...
*
Leonurinine
*
Leuronurine
*
Prehispanolone
*
Preleoheterin
*
Stachydrine
References
External links
plants.usda.gov
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1788423
Lamiaceae
Flora of China
Flora of Mongolia
Flora of Siberia
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus