Biology
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This annual plant flowers between May and August (2).
Conservation
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No conservation action has been targeted at this species.
Description
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This attractive tall cornfield plant has purple flowers which occur singly on the top of long stalks, the leaves are long and pointed and always grow opposite another leaf (4). Before the petals open, they are folded like flags (6). The spiky sepals project out beyond the petals; this feature may have earned the plant the local name of 'puck needles' in Sussex. Other local names include 'crown of the field' in Somerset and 'Popple' in Scotland, a name that dates from the Middle Ages (7).
Habitat
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An arable weed, particularly in cornfields (4). This species does not survive long in the seed bank unless it is buried very deeply (9).
Range
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Distributed throughout Europe but often rare where it occurs (4), possibly native only to the eastern Mediterranean region (2). It was introduced to Britain in grain, has been present since the Iron Age (8), and was once very common (9). At present, the corncockle is very rare in the UK and Ireland, and is considered nearly extinct as an arable weed, although it occasionally occurs for a brief time where wild flower seed is scattered (3), or when old pastureland is ploughed or disturbed in some other way (6). There is one 'natural' site in Kent where the species occurs in corn in the hundreds (9).
Status
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Not listed in any major conservation designations.
Threats
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The large, black seeds of the corncockle give an unpleasant taste to bread, and the plant was consequently persecuted as a pest (6). Improvements in farming techniques between the World Wars allowed the seeds to be separated from imported and UK harvested grain (9). With the additional pressure of herbicides this species has been eliminated from the countryside (6).
Associations
provided by BioImages, the virtual fieldguide, UK
In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / spot causer
clustered, blackish pycnidium of Ascochyta coelomatous anamorph of Ascochyta dianthi causes spots on fading leaf of Agrostemma githago
Remarks: season: summer
Comments
provided by eFloras
Formerly a common weed of grain fields, Agrostemma githago is becoming increasingly scarce, both in North America and in its native environs in Europe (R. Svensson and M. Wigren 1986). Mechanical screening of grain, which removes contaminants, and modern herbicides have more or less eliminated the plant from grain fields in the flora. The saponin-containing seeds, occurring as contaminants in grain, are poisonous to livestock, birds, and humans. This species is sometimes cultivated in flower gardens.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Comments
provided by eFloras
This species is used medicinally. The stem, leaves, and seeds are poisonous.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Description
provided by eFloras
Plants 60--90 cm tall, with long appressed grayish hairs. Stems unbranched, often with axillary dichasia above. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, 4--13 cm × (2--)5--10 mm, midvein prominent, base slightly connate, apex acute. Pedicel very long. Calyx tube 1.2--1.5 cm, abaxially villous; teeth 2--3 cm. Petal limbs pink, 1.4--1.8 cm, shorter than calyx teeth; claw white, narrowly cuneate; limb dark red, obovate, emarginate. Stamens and styles exserted. Capsule ovoid, 1.2--1.8 cm, slightly longer than calyx. Seeds black, ovoid or reniform, 2.5--3 mm, with prominent acute tubercles. Fl. Jun--Aug, fr. Jul--Sep. 2n = 24, 48.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Habitat & Distribution
provided by eFloras
Weed of fields, wheat farmlands, roadside grasslands. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Xinjiang [native to the Mediterranean region, native or naturalized in N Asia and Europe; naturalized elsewhere].
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Synonym
provided by eFloras
Lychnis githago (Linnaeus) Scopoli
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Agrostemma githago
provided by wikipedia EN
Agrostemma githago, the common corn-cockle (also written "corncockle") is a herbaceous annual flowering plant in the pink and carnation family Caryophyllaceae.
Description
It grows with a stem to 100 cm (39 in) long with lanceolate leaves. The flowers are up to 5 cm (2.0 in) in diameter, usually single at the ends of the stem. The sepals have five narrow teeth much longer than the petals. It has ten stamens.[1] It has slender pink flowers. It is an erect plant covered with fine hairs. Its few branches are each tipped with a single deep pink to purple flower. The flowers are scentless, 25–50 mm (1.0–2.0 in) across, and produced in the summer months – May to September in the northern hemisphere, November to March in the southern hemisphere.
Each petal bears two or three discontinuous black lines. The five narrow pointed sepals exceed the petals and are joined at the base to form a rigid tube with ten ribs. Leaves are pale green, opposite, narrowly lanceolate, held nearly erect against stem and are 45–145 mm (1.8–5.7 in) long. Seeds are produced in a many-seeded capsule. It can be found in fields, roadsides, railway lines, waste places, and other disturbed areas.
Ecology
In the 19th century, it was reported as a very common weed of European wheat fields and its seeds were inadvertently included in harvested wheat seed and then resown the following season. It is very likely that until the 20th century, most wheat contained some corn cockle seed. It is susceptible to downy mildew caused by the oomycete species Peronospora agrostemmatis.[2]
Distribution
It is now present in many parts of the temperate world as an alien species, probably introduced with imported European wheat. It is known to occur throughout much of the United States and parts of Canada, parts of Australia and New Zealand.
In parts of Europe, intensive mechanized farming has put the plant at risk and it is now uncommon or locally distributed. This is partly due to changing patterns of agriculture with most wheat now sown in the autumn as winter wheat and then harvested before any corn cockle would have flowered or set seed. The main reason, however, is that the cereal seed is better cleaned. The plant was believed to be completely extirpated in the United Kingdom until 2014, when a single specimen was found growing in Sunderland by an assistant ranger of the National Trust.[3]
It can be found in fields, roadsides, railway lines, waste places, and other disturbed areas.
Toxicity
All parts of the plant are poisonous and contain githagin and agrostemmic acid. It has been used in folk medicine despite the risk of fatal poisoning.[4]
See also
References
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Agrostemma githago: Brief Summary
provided by wikipedia EN
Agrostemma githago, the common corn-cockle (also written "corncockle") is a herbaceous annual flowering plant in the pink and carnation family Caryophyllaceae.
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