''Tordylium apulum'', commonly known as the Mediterranean hartwort, is an annual

forb A forb or phorb is an herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid (grass, sedge, or rush). The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory. Typically these are dicots without woo ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

. It is classified within the family

Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...

, the carrot family. It is native to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Western 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 ...

, but has been introduced to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, where it is now found only in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. This plant's seeds are suggested as the plant model used for the famous gold "

Malia Pendant The Malia Pendant is a gold pendant found in a tomb in 1930 at Chryssolakkos, Chrysolakkos, Malia, Crete, Malia, Crete. It dates to the Minoan civilization, 1800-1650 BC. The pendant was excavated by the French and first described by Pierre Demargn ...

", a jewel of high quality gold-smithery of the

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...

times now on display at the

Heraklion Archaeological Museum The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is a museum located in Heraklion on Crete. It is one of the greatest museums in Greece and the best in the world for Minoan art, as it contains by far the most important and complete collection of artefacts o ...

Derivation of English Common Name

The name Hartwort, meaning ‘Deer plant’ is a scholarly coinage from the belief, first recorded by

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

that female deer sought out the leaves of the plant to eat, after giving birth. If true, this observation might indicate medicinal or nutritive properties in the plant preventative of post-partum haemorrhage.

Description

The Mediterranean hartwort usually grows to 20-50 centimeters in height. It has an erect stem that is branched with soft, spreading hairs at the base, and scattered hairs along the rest of the stem. The leaves are softly hairy and pinnate, with the lower leaves being oval with toothed segments, and the upper leaves having linear segments. It has 2-8 primary rays. The marginal flowers each have 1 white petal, enlarged, and uniformly deeply 2-lobed. The bracts and bracteoles are linear long-pointed with spreading hairs. The fruit is round, flattened, elaborately textured, and usually is 5-8 millimeters in size.

Habitat

Mediterranean hartwort is found as a weed of cultivation, on waste land, and by waysides. The plant is equally at home in sandy, loamy and clay soils. Hartworts may be found growing on acid, neutral and basic soils, but will not thrive in shade.

Reproduction

The flowers are hermaphrodite and are pollinated by Insects. The plant is self-fertile.

Uses

The leaves of the plant are edible and are used as a potherb and salad vegetable in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. In Italy it is used as a condiment. The essential oil composition of aerial parts of ''Tordylium apulum'' L. from Italy was analyzed. Sixty-seven compounds were identified representing 96.5% of the oil. The most abundant compounds were (E)-β-

ocimene Ocimenes are a group of isomeric hydrocarbons. The ocimenes are monoterpenes found within a variety of plants and fruits. α-Ocimene and the two β-ocimenes differ in the position of the isolated double bond: it is terminal in the alpha isomer. ...

(17.3), α-

humulene Humulene, also known as α-humulene or α-caryophyllene, is a naturally occurring monocyclic sesquiterpene (C15H24), containing an 11-membered ring and consisting of 3 isoprene units containing three nonconjugated C=C double bonds, two of them be ...

(11.4%) and octyl octanoate (8.8%). Essential oil from aerial parts of ''T. apulum'' from Greece was reported to have α-humulene (28.7%) and octyl hexanoate (11.7%) as the main constituents. There are no known medicinal uses for this plant.

In Popular Culture

During the Medieval and Renaissance periods, Tordylium apulum, or hart-wort, was reputed to be the herb associated with the zodiac sign Pisces, and was used in charms & talismans, according to Appendix Four: Fixed Star Rulerships from

Cornelius Agrippa Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (; ; 14 September 1486 – 18 February 1535) was a German polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, and occult writer. Agrippa's ''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'' published in 1533 drew ...

Three Books of Occult Philosophy ''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'' (''De Occulta Philosophia libri III'') is Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's study of occult philosophy, acknowledged as a significant contribution to the Renaissance philosophical discussion concerning the power ...

, Book I, Ch. 32. Appendix 4.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q622341 Apioideae Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Malta