''Carlina'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...

. It is distributed from

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

and the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

across

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 northern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

and northwestern China.Kovanda, M. (2002)
Observations on ''Carlina biebersteinii''.
''Thaiszia Journal of Botany'' 12(1), 75-82. Plants of the genus are known commonly as carline thistles.''Carlina''.
In: Greuter, W. & E. von Raab-Straube. (Eds.) Compositae. Euro+Med Plantbase.

Description

''Carlina'' species are very similar to true thistles (genus ''

Cirsium ''Cirsium'' is a genus of perennial and biennial flowering plants in the Asteraceae, one of several genera known commonly as thistles. They are more precisely known as plume thistles. These differ from other thistle genera (''Carduus'', '' Sily ...

'') in morphology, and are part of the thistle tribe,

Cynareae The Cardueae are a tribe of flowering plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae) and the subfamily Carduoideae. Most of them are commonly known as thistles; four of the best known genera are ''Carduus'', ''Cynara'' (containing the widely eaten arti ...

. Most are biennial herbs, but the genus includes annuals, perennials,

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

s, and dwarf

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, as well. The largest reach about 80 centimeters tall. The stems are upright and branching or unbranched. The whole plant is spiny. The leaves have toothed or lobed blades with spiny edges and sometimes woolly hairs. The

flower heads A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

are solitary or borne in

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are forme ...

s. The head is hemispherical to bell-shaped and lined with several layers of spiny

phyllaries In botanical terminology, a phyllary, also known an involucral bract or tegule, is a single bract of the involucre of a composite flower. The involucre is the grouping of bracts together. Phyllaries are reduced leaf-like structures that form one o ...

. The outer phyllaries may be very long and leaflike. It contains tubular or funnel-shaped disc florets in shades of yellow or red. The fruit is a hairy cypsela with a plumelike pappus made up of tufts of bristles.''Carlina''.
Flora of North America.

Taxonomy and relationships

''Carlina'' is closely related to the genus ''

Atractylis ''Atractylis'' is a genus of plants in the family Asteraceae. ; Species ''Atractylis'' is native to the greater Mediterranean region (southern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:C ...

''. Together they are a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to the genus '' Atractylodes'' in the subtribe Carlininae. ''Carlina'' has been divided into five subgenera: ''Carlina'', ''Carlowizia'', ''Heracantha'', ''Lyrolepis'', and ''Mitina''. Carlina biebersteinii 3

There are about 28 to 34''Carlina''.
The Plant List. species in the genus.

Etymology

The genus name honors the

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fr ...

(1500–1558).

Uses

''Carlina'' species have been used as

herbal remedies Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remedies ...

in European systems of

traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...

.Đorđević, S., et al. (2012)
Bioactivity assays on ''Carlina acaulis'' and ''C. acanthifolia'' root and herb extracts.
''Digest Journal of Nanomaterials and Biostructures'' 7(3), 1213-22. C. acaulis root is known as ''Carlinae radix'' and is still used medicinally as a

diuretic A diuretic () is any substance that promotes diuresis, the increased production of urine. This includes forced diuresis. A diuretic tablet is sometimes colloquially called a water tablet. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics i ...

and a treatment for such conditions as skin lesions and rashes,

catarrh Catarrh is an exudate of inflamed mucous membranes in one of the airways or cavities of the body, usually with reference to the throat and paranasal sinuses. It can result in a thick exudate of mucus and white blood cells caused by the swell ...

, and

toothache Toothache, also known as dental pain,Segen JC. (2002). ''McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine''. The McGraw-Hill Companies. is pain in the teeth or their supporting structures, caused by dental diseases or pain referred to the t ...

. Most commercial preparations of ''Carlinae radix'' are not ''C. acaulis'', but are in fact adulterated with ''C. acanthifolia'', a related species. The

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the o ...

of both species is mostly composed of carlina oxide, an

acetylene Acetylene ( systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pure ...

derivative. The compound has antimicrobial activity.Djordjevic, S., et al. (2005)
Composition of ''Carlina acanthifolia'' root essential oil.
''Chemistry of Natural Compounds'' 41(4), 410-12. The young flowerhead of C. acaulis is also eaten like an

artichoke The globe artichoke (''Cynara cardunculus'' var. ''scolymus'' ),Rottenberg, A., and D. Zohary, 1996: "The wild ancestry of the cultivated artichoke." Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 43, 53–58. also known by the names French artichoke and green articho ...

References

External links

Flora Europaea: ''Carlina'' species list and distributions
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1136447 Asteraceae genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus