Physochlaina Physaloides

''Physochlaina'' is a small genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, found principally in the north-western provinces of China (and regions adjoining these in the Himalaya and Central Asia) although one species occurs in Western Asia, while another is found as far east as those regions of Siberia abutting the eastern borders of Mongolia and, furthermore, not only in Mongolia itself, but also in the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. Some sources maintain that the widespread species ''P. physaloides'' is found also in Japan, but the species is not recorded as being native in one of the few English-language floras of the country. The genus is a valuable one, since its species are not only of considerable medicinal value, being rich in tropane alkaloids, but also of ornamental value, three species having been grown for the purpose, although hitherto infrequently outside botanical gardens. Furthermore, the genus contains a species (''P. physaloides'' – recorded in older literature under the synonyms ''Hyoscyamus physalodes'', ''Hyoscyamus physaloides'' and ''Scopolia physaloides'') formerly used as an entheogen in Siberia (re. which see translation of Gmelin's account of such use below).

Derivation of genus name

The name ''Physochlaina'' is a compound of the Greek words φυσα (''phusa''), 'bladder' / 'bubble' / 'inflated thing' and χλαινα ( ''chlaina'' ), 'robe' / 'loose outer garment' / 'cloak' / 'wrapper' – giving the meaning 'clad loosely in a puffed-up bladder' – in reference to the calyces of the plants, which become enlarged and sometimes bladder-like in fruit – like those of the much better known Solanaceous genera Physalis, Withania and Nicandra, from which they differ in enclosing, not berries, but box-like pyxidial capsules, like those of Hyoscyamus (see below). The variant spelling ''Physochlaena'' – as employed by Professor Eva Schönbeck-Temesy in her section on the Solanaceae for ''Flora Iranica'' – appears first on page 737 of Volume 22 of the German-language journal ''Linnaea'' for the year 1849.

Publication of genus name

The genus name ''Physochlaina'' was first published in 1838 by Scottish botanist George Don ( great-uncle of Monty Don ) on page 470 of volume IV of his four-volume work ''A General System of Gardening and Botany'', often referred to as ''Gen. Hist.'' (an abbreviation of the alternative title ''A General History of the Dichlamydeous Plants'') and written between 1832 and 1838. He included in his new genus the two species hitherto known as ''Hyoscyamus physaloides'' L. and ''Hyoscyamus orientalis'' M. Bieb. – the latter published by Baron Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein in his ''Flora taurico-caucasica'' of 1808.

Common names

Not being native to Western Europe, plants belonging to the genus ''Physochlaina'' have no common name of any antiquity in English, nor have they acquired a more recent common name among English-speaking gardeners, despite the passage of two centuries since their introduction to cultivation in the U.K.

Robert Sweet coined the English name ''Oriental Henbane'' for ''P. orientalis'' in his work ''The British Flower Garden'' in 1823, but this is simply a translation of the ( now obsolete ) name ''Hyoscyamus orientalis''. He further coins the name ''Purple-flowered Henbane'' for the Siberian species ''P. physaloides'', but this adds to the confusion, as, not only is the species in question no longer classified as a Henbane ( i.e. ''Hyoscyamus'' ), but there are also a number of ( true ) ''Hyoscyamus'' spp. which bear purple flowers – e.g. Hyoscyamus muticus.

There is, however, a common name (age unknown) for ''Physochlaina'' in Russian, namely Пузырница (''Puzeernitsa'') – 'bladder / bubble plant', qualified Пузырница Физалисовая (''Puzeernitsa Phizalisovaya'') – ''Physalis-like Bladder plant'' in the case of ''P. physaloides ''. The Swedish common name for the genus – ''Vårbolmört'' – translates as 'Spring(-flowering) Henbane', while the Finnish common name ''Kievarinyrtti'' means 'Inn Herb' and the Estonian common name is ''Ida-vullrohu'', meaning 'Eastern Henbane'.

In Turkey, where the species ''Physochlaina orientalis'' is native to the region abutting the easternmost stretch of Turkey's Black Sea coast, the common name given to the plant is ''Taş Banotu'', meaning ''Stone Henbane'' i.e. "the henbane that grows on/out of, stone" in reference to the plant's ability to thrive in rock crevices ee section below on ''P. orientalis'' with accompanying image of wild specimen growing in crevices in volcanic rock The late Professor Turhan Baytop lists the Turkish common name ''Yalancı Banotu'' (= "False Henbane") for the plant in his 1963 work on the medicinal and poisonous plants of Turkey. He does not, however, record any information concerning any medicinal properties attributed to ''Physochlaina orientalis'' or folk medicinal uses of it made in Turkey. While Baytop includes a brief mention of the plant in the section "List of the Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Turkey" under the family heading "Solanaceae", he does not include it in the section which constitutes the bulk of his work - namely "Principal Medicinal Plants of Turkey" - this in marked contrast to his substantial treatment of the related genus ''Hyoscyamus''.
The list entry for ''P. orientalis'' reads simply " * Physoclaina ic.orientalis (M.B.) G.Don. - ''Yalancı Banotu'': Gümüşhane" - the initial asterisk here indicating a plant not only medicinal but actively poisonous, and "Gümüşhane" the province of Turkey in which the plant is to be found.

In the ancient, Iranian language Ossetian, spoken both to the North and the South of the Greater Caucasus range, plants of the genus Physochlaina have the common name Тыппыргæрдæг – approximate pronunciation ''Typpyrgərdəg'' ( where schwa stands for the unique Ossetian vowel for which the special letter 'æ' had to be created in the Cyrillic alphabet ). (See also page ''Physochlaina'' in Wikipedia, language: Ирон).
The name Тыппыргæрдæг is composed of the Ossetian elements тыппыр ( ''typpyr'' ) 'swollen' / 'puffed up' and кæрдаг / гæрдаг ( (approx.) ''kerdag'' / ''gerdag'' ) 'grass' / 'pasture' / 'fodder', thus yielding an English translation of ''bladder-grass'' ( cf. Ossetian таппуз (''tappuz'') 'bladder' / 'bubble' ). This Ossetian common name for the plant is thus very similar in meaning to the Russian ''Puzeernitsa'', but it is not clear whether it arose independently or is simply a translation of the Russian name for the plant. This said, Abaev lists a second meaning (prevalent particularly in the Digor dialect) of the Ossetian word ''typpyr'', namely 'kurgan' (burial mound), in which the primary sense of 'swelling' is applied specifically to a swelling in the landscape i.e. a tumulus or small artificial hill. It is thus possible that the compound ''Typpyrgerdeg'' is translateable as ''grave-grass'' i.e. a fodder plant associated in some way with grave mounds. Such a meaning for this compound would be compatible with a native Ossetian provenance - not unlikely in regard to the name of a plant native to the Caucasus (see below re. ''P. orientalis'').

There are likewise several common names for the Himalayan ''Physochlaina praealta'' in the various languages of Nepal, and common names for the genus ''Physochlaina'' and the various ''Physochlaina'' species of Eastern Asiatic provenance in Standard Chinese (泡囊草属 ''pao nang cao shu''), Tibetan (''hun horse''), Kazakh (үрмежеміс = (approximately) ''urmezhemis''), Uzbek (''xiyoli''), Uyghur, Mongolian (''garag chig tav'') and certain Tungusic languages.

Accepted species

The Plant List, a joint project of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden, accepts only six species of the genus:
* ''Physochlaina capitata'' A.M. Lu (common name in Chinese: 伊犁泡囊草 ''yi li pao nang cao'' i.e. "''Physochlaina'' of the Ili River region") : Xinjiang : Ili River valley region, encompassing Borohoro Mountains and S.W. Tian Shan : Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (principal settlement Yining City) : Xinyuan County (known as Künes pre-1946) and Gongliu County, growing on grassy slopes and in rock crevices. Corolla : yellow with purple throat. Flowering time April to May and fruiting from May to June.
* ''Physochlaina infundibularis'' Kuang : Southeastern and North-Central China : South and West Henan, Qin Mountains of Shaanxi and South Shanxi, growing in valleys and forests at altitude of 800-1600m. Corolla : greenish-yellow, pale purplish at base. Flowering time : March to May and fruiting from May to June. ote: a Russian language website claims that this species is also native to the Primorskiy Krai region of the Russian Far East (historically forming part of Outer Manchuria).]Фитоаптека (Fitoapteka) http://fitoapteka.org/herbs-p/4103-101032-physochlaina-infundibuaris
* ''Physochlaina macrocalyx'' Adolf Pascher, Pascher (common name in Chinese 长萼泡囊草 chang e pao nang cao): Tibet. Little-known species. Corolla entirely yellow (no trace of violet). Not yet observed in fruit. Only description available the original brief one by Adolf Pascher, publisher of species name.
* ''Physochlaina macrophylla'' Bonati : South-Central China : W. Sichuan, growing in forests at altitude of 1900-2400m. Corolla purple. Flowering time :June to July and fruiting from July to August.
* '' Physochlaina physaloides'' ( L.) G.Don : China : Hebei, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang. Also Kazakhstan, Mongolia and S. Siberia. Grows on grassy slopes and forest margins at around 1000m. Corolla purple. Flowering from April to May and fruiting from May to July.
* ''Physochlaina praealta'' (Decne.) Miers : Western Himalaya, N. India, N. Pakistan, Nepal and Tibet, growing on slopes at altitude of 4200-4500m. Corolla yellow with purple or greenish veins. Flowering from June to July and fruiting from July to August.
The others being rejected mostly as synonyms.
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Science Plants of the World online, however, accepts also:
* ''Physochlaina alaica'' Korotkova ex Kovalevsk : Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
* ''Physochlaina albiflora'' Grubov : Mongolia
* ''Physochlaina orientalis'' (M.Bieb.) G.Don : 'Balkan States' (according to Flora of USSR), Armenia and E. Turkey, Transcaucasia, Iran and W. Central Asia
* ''Physochlaina semenowii'' Regel : Meeting point of Xinjiang province of China and easternmost Kazakhstan i.e. Dzungaria – notably the Tarbagatay Mountains (= ' Tarbagan marmot Mountains'), the Dzungarian Alatau ('Trans-Ilian Alatau' – Semenova) and the Tian Shan (including the Borohoro Mountains). Also Kyrgyzstan. Grows in mountains and mountain river valleys. Corolla small (1 cm) tubular and violet. Flowering from May to June.

Description

Perennial herbs, differing in their type of inflorescence – a terminal, cymose panicle or corymbose raceme – from the other five genera of subtribe Hyoscyaminae within tribe Hyoscyameae of the Solanaceae. Flowers pedunculate (not secund