''Heliotropium europaeum'' is a species of heliotrope known by the common names European heliotrope and European turn-sole. It is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, but it is widely

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

elsewhere, such as in Australia and North America. It grows as a roadside weed in some places. This is an annual herb growing from a

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

and reaching maximum heights near 40 centimeters. The stem and oval-shaped leaves are covered in soft hairs. The

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 formed o ...

s are coiled spikes of white flowers with fuzzy or bristly

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s. Each flower is just a few millimeters wide. The fruit is a bumpy nutlet.

Toxicity

''Heliotropium europaeum'' contains

pyrrolizidine alkaloids Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), sometimes referred to as necine bases, are a group of naturally occurring alkaloids based on the structure of pyrrolizidine. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are produced by plants as a defense mechanism against insect he ...

and is

poisonous Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

. The MERCK Veterinary Manual, Table 5

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery

europaeum The Europaeum is a network of eighteen universities in Europe. It was conceived of in 1990–1991 by Lord Weidenfeld and Sir Ronnie Grierson and they persuaded Roy Jenkins, who had just become Chancellor of the University of Oxford, to push t ...

Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Malta {{Asterid-stub