''Picris'' (oxtongues) is a
genus of
flowering plants in the family
Asteraceae described as a genus by
Linnaeus in 1753.
''Picris'' species are used as food plants by the
larvae of some
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...
species, such as the
grass moth ''
Diasemia reticularis
''Diasemia reticularis'' is a species of moth of the family Crambidae. It is typically found in the tropics, but may range into Europe as far north as the North Sea region because of its migratory nature.
The wingspan is 18–22 mm. The ad ...
''. ''
Schinia cardui'' feeds exclusively on ''
P. hieracioides''.
The genus is widespread across
Europe,
Asia,
Africa, and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Description
Erect annual to perennial taprooted herbs, mostly branching, stem and leaves bearing stiff bristly hairs, with rather large, usually
corymbose or
paniculate
A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...
heads of yellow flowers.
Taxonomy
Taxonomic history
The genus ''Picris'' was first validly described by
Linnaeus in 1753 with the genus being accepted by a number of secondary sources including
Plants of the World Online
Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...
. Linnaeus initially described four species with ''P. hieracioides'', ''P. echioides'', ''P. pyrenaica'' and ''P. asplenioides''. In 1913, Britton and Brown proposed ''P. asplenioides'' as the type species for the genus. Subsequently, in 1930, Hitchcock and Green alternatively proposed ''P. hieracioides'' as the type species. The Hitchcock and Green proposal was adopted by
Lack in 1975 and accepted by
Jarvis in 1992. Lack argued that Linnaeus never saw ''P. asplenioides'' which Linnaeus regarded as an obscure species and no specimen could be found in the Linnean Herbarium. For this reason Lack concluded that ''P. hieracioides'' should be designated as the type species.
In 1794, the German botanist
Conrad Moench
Conrad Moench (sometimes written Konrad Mönch; 15 August 1744 – 6 January 1805) was a German botanist, professor of botany at Marburg University from 1786 until his death.
He wrote 'Methodus Plantas horti botanici et agri Marburgensis' in 179 ...
described the genus ''Medicusia'' and the species ''M. aspera''. This genus has not been accepted and is considered a synonym of ''Picris''. ''M. aspera'' has also been determined to be a synonym of ''P. rhagadioloides''.
Etymology
''Picris'' is from the Greek meaning 'bitter', in reference to the bitter taste of some species in the genus.
Species
; Species
The Plant List search for ''Picris''
/ref>
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q217621
Cichorieae
Asteraceae genera
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus