Prunella – mistress of plasticity

Now that I have your attention, this is not an article about soft porn or fetishes, but rather a paean for that humble ‘weed’ Prunella vulgaris – Self-heal, Heal all, Woundwort, Heart of the Earth and many other names, depending on where in the World you come from.   Prunella vulgaris is in the family Lamiaceae, so related to mints and dead-nettles.  It is an edible weed, the young leaves can be used in salads and it can also be used in soups, stews, or used whole and boiled as a pot herb.

The instantly (to me at any rate) recognisable flower of Prunella vulgaris

Prunella as I will now familiarly call her, has a very wide geographical native range and has also been introduced into South America where she does very well indeed (Godoy et al., 2011).

Distribution of Prunella vulgaris, blue native, brown introduced. http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:455176-1

 The name Prunella is derived from ‘Brunella’, a word which is itself a derivative, coming from the German name for quinsy, (a type of throat inflammation), die Braüne, which it was historically used to cure.  That is the other aspect of this glorious plant, it has many medicinal properties, hence the many common names refer to its healing powers, almost as many as Athelas of Lord of the Rings fame 😊  It was traditionally used in European herbal medicine for sore throats, fever reduction and like Athelas, for accelerating the healing of wounds (Matthiolus, 1626).  More recently it has become of interest as a possible cure for conditions associated with the herpes simplex virus (Psotováa et al., 2003) and inhibiting anaphylactic shock and other immediate type allergic reactions (Shin et al., 2001).  So truly a wonder drug, and again proving that “Old Wives Tales” are in many cases based on more than just superstition.

My interest in Prunella vulgaris, is however, based on its wondrous plasticity, as the three photographs below show nicely.  Depending on grazing (or mowing) pressure, Prunella can grow to reproductive maturity at heights  ranging from just over 2 cm to just under 30 cm. Truly remarkable.

I am of course, not the first person to be fascinated by this plasticity and the taxonomic and evolutionary ins and outs of this lovely plant (Nelson, 1965; Warwick & Briggs, 1979) but I still find it fascinating, and who knows, perhaps one day I might do some work on it myself 😊

The other thing that I like about Prunella is that she is also provides a living for aphids.  She has her own rare and specific one, Aphis brunellae, but is also kind enough to let a few other species make a living on her, Aphis gossypii, Aphis nasturtii, Aulacorthum solani,  Macrosiphum euphorbiae, the ubiquitous Myzus persicae, M. ornatus and Ovatomyzus chamaedrys (Blackman & Eastop, 2006).

Aphis brunellae, rare in the UK – with thanks to the two Bobs for permission to use the photograph. http://influentialpoints.com/Images/Aphis_brunellae_colony_on_Prunella_vulgaris_c2015-08-21_15-37-27ew.jpg

 

Finally, you will have noticed that the Prunella aphid is A. brunellae, which is derived from the original name of Prunella (I guess Prunella Scales is happy, she could have been Brunella Scales).  Interestingly, her alter-ego was not removed until fairly recently, her tombstone is shown below.

References

Blackman, R.L. & Eastop, V.F. (2006) Aphids on the World’s Herbaceous Plants and Shrubs Volume 1 Host Lists and Keys.  Wiley, Oxford.

Godoy, O., Saldaña, A., Fuentes, N., Valladares, F. & Gianoli, E. (2011)  Forests are not immune to plant invasions: phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation allow Prunella vulgaris to colonize a temperate evergreen rainforest. Biological Invasions, 13, 1615-1625.

Matthiolus, P.A. (1626) Kräuterbuch.  Noringberg.

Nelson, A.P. (1965) Taxonomic and evolutionary implications of lawn races in Prunella vulgaris (Labiatae). Brittonia, 17, 160-174.

Psotová, J., Kolá, M., Sousek, J., Ívagera, Z., Vicar, J. &Ulrichová, J. (2003) Biological activities of Prunella vulgaris extract. Phytotherapy Research, 17, 1082-1087.

Shin, T.Y., Kim, Y.K. & Kim, H.M. (2001) inhibition of immediate-type allergic reactions by Prunella vulgaris in a murine model.  Immunopharmacology & Immunotoxicology, 23, 423–435.

Warwick, S.I. & Briggs, D. (1979) The genecology of lawn weeds III. Cultivation experiments with Achillea millefolium L., Bellis perennis L., Plantago lanceolata L., Plantago major L. and Prunella vulgaris L. collected from lawns and contrasting grassland habitats.  New Phytologist, 83, 509-536.

 

Pick and mix 11 – Another ten links to look at

I’m still on holiday in France so just a series of links this week.

Links to things I thought interesting (picture is the room door of the Ibis Style hotel we stayed at in Paris)

 

Is “novelty” holding science back?

Using radio tagging to improve the conservation of stag beetles

How ‘Nature’ keeps us healthy, from potted plants to hiking

How scientists at Rothamsted Research and the University of North Texas have engineered a relative of cabbage to produce fish oil

Agricultural efficiency will feed the world, not dogma

A really interesting article about migration and movement of people

Dave Goulson’s work on pesticide residues in garden plants summarised by plant ecologist Ken Thompson

Using a field journal to strengthen learning

At the risk of seeming big-headed an interesting episode of Entocast

I don’t normally post about birds but after this golden oriole

committed suicide against our patio doors thought that this deserved a mention

 

The Natural World in Haiku form

Traditionally in the world of journalism, August is regarded as lacking any news of note, and is, in the UK at any rate, dubbed the “Silly Season”.  In homage to that view-point, and instead of doing one of of my usual blog posts, I searched for all the haikus I have tweeted over the last three years and present them here for light relief.

 

Thirsty snails

Short of water, snails

Circle and swirl on the rocks,

Waiting for a storm.

All the stones of any consequence were encrusted with snails.  Then the rain came and they were gone.

Italy 25 July 2014

 

Evening lift-off

Italian evening;

Bats swoop as stag beetles lift

Into lurching flight

Note the hole in the left elytrum, the resident kitten at our Italian holiday villa really enjoyed herslf snatching the poor lumbering beasties (in this case a Rhinoceros beetle) out of the air ☹

Italy 27 July 2014

 

Breakfast?

Italian morning;

Lizards scurry on the stairs

as cicadas sing

Admittedly not on the stairs, but close enough 😊

28 July 2014

 

Seasons

 

Spring has sprung

 White, pink fluttering,

the gentle breeze scattering;

cherry blossom falls

Outside my office – 24 May 2016

 

Summer?

Blue sky, sun shining

Ducklings following mother

Winged aphids – summer?

4 May 2016

 

Summer?

Dull, damp, cold drizzle.

Clouds glowering down on me.

Flaming June my foot 😦

29 June 2017

 

St Martin

September sunshine;

Eating lunch sitting outside.

What could be better?

10 September 2014

 

On the way

 September morning,

Sunlit, moist mist-laden trees;

Autumn is coming

8 September 2014

Autumn

Crickle, crackle; leaves,

underneath my slipping feet.

Autumn is with us.

20 October 2015

 

I used to camp here as a lad!

Sodden tent, wet feet.

Rolling hills and drystone walls.

English Lake District

8 October 2014

 

Damp

How I hate mizzle;

as wet as real rain, but no

comforting refrain

26 November 2015

 

Satisfaction

Shuffling through brown leaves

On a sunny autumn day;

So satisfying.

2 November 2016

 

Wet Pavements in Lille

Desert boots are great

except when soles are holey.

Then rain means wet feet

10 December 2014

 

Transience

Icing sugar snow,

Gently being washed away;

Grey drizzle falling

29 January 2015

Miscellanea

 

Job downside

Academics hate

marking student assignments

on a sunny day

7 December 2016

 

Sunday lunch

 Butterflied mint lamb

roast potatoes and carrots;

apple and pear tart.

11 December 2016

 

Dedicated to @IMcMillan who spends a lot of time at stations

Cardboard coffee cups

tentatively raised to lips;

Morning commuters

7 July 2016

 

Definition

Searching for the why

and how things are like they are;

Entomology

20 December 2015

 

Blood Moon

Lustrous, silver orb

Bloody, awe-inspiring moon

Night-time amazement

28 September 2015

 

Evening entertainment

Bats, swiftly looping

Snatching insects from the sky

Feeding on the wing

26 July 2017

 

Regular readers, rest assured, normal service will be returned in the next post 🙂

Pick and mix 10 – ten more links to look at

Links to things I thought interesting

 

Why conservation needs to work around people’s values

If you ever wondered why so many plants have wort in their name.

The academic work-life balance is so wrong.  Errant Science takes a humourous look at a very serious subject.

Learn about the biology of peaches and how to cook them

Interesting commentary on a  paper about how walnuts have invaded forest ecosystems

Continuing with the food theme, how a Swedish countess introduced potatoes to the European diet

Have you ever heard a hawk moth squeak?  Now you can and they use their genitals to make the sound 🙂

If you ever wondered how beetles fold their wings, then here is the answer.  Full details about a complex subject.

Polish scientists are looking at ways of making eating insects more appetizing

Finally, William Playfair the Scottish scoundrel who invented all the graphs we love to hate