Tofieldia is a small genus of flowering plants described as a genus in 1778.Hudson, William. 1778. Flora Anglica, Editio Altera 157("175"). It is widespread across much of Europe, Asia, and North America.Altervista Flora Italiana, genere Tofieldia includes photos and European distribution maps
Tofieldia was once placed in the lily family, but is now generally included in the newer family Tofieldiaceae. The genus sometimes includes species of genus Triantha. Tofieldia are rhizomatous perennial herbs with spikes or racemes of lily-like flowers.
The name Tofieldia commemorates the British botanist Thomas Tofield.
Description Green glabrous perennials from short creeping rhizomes; leaves mostly radical, 2-ranked, laterally flattened, linear; scapes slender, few-leaved or naked; racemes sometimes spikelike, the flowers small, on short pedicels, in axils of bracts, solitary or in 3’s, bracteolate; tepals 6, persistent, linear-oblong to oblanceolate, white, greenish, or brownish red; stamens 6, the filaments linear-subulate, the anthers ovate, introrse, 2-locular; ovary superior, sessile, ovoid, 3-lobed at apex, the ovules numerous; styles short, the stigma introrse; capsules septicidal, 3-locular, the seeds small, narrowly oblong, caudate at one end or without appendage. About 20 species, in the temperate and northern regions of the N. Hemisphere.Ohwi, Jisaburo, National Science Museum, Tokyo, Japan, Flora of Japan (in English) pub. Smithsonian Institution Washington DC 1965. Section: Family 52. LILIACEAE Yuri Ka pps. 279-311, genus Tofieldia pps. 281 & 283.
Species Tofieldia calyculata (L.) Wahlenb. ("German Asphodel") - much of Europe from Spain to Ukraine Tofieldia cernua Sm. - Siberia + Russian Far East Tofieldia coccinea Richardson - Russia, Mongolia, China, Japan, Korea, Alaska, Canada Tofieldia divergens Bureau & Franch. - China (Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan) Tofieldia furusei (Hiyama) M.N.Tamura & Fuse - Honshu Tofieldia glabra Nutt. - North and South Carolina Tofieldia himalaica Baker - Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh Tofieldia × hybrida A.Kern. ex Asch. & Graebn. - Austrian and Italian Alps Tofieldia nuda Maxim. - Honshu, Kyushu Tofieldia okuboi Makino - Japan, Kuril Islands Tofieldia pusilla (Michx.) Pers. ("Scottish Asphodel") - Subarctic + Subalpine Europe, Asia and North America Tofieldia thibetica Franch. - Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan Tofieldia yoshiiana Makino - Korea, Japan
Use in systems of traditional medicine
At least three species of Tofieldia have been used in traditional medicine: T. pusilla was used in Scotland to treat a variety of ailments, including skin conditions, respiratory problems, and digestive issues. The plant's roots have been used to make a tea believed to have a soothing effect on the stomach and intestines.Wild Flower Web http://www.wildflowerweb.co.uk/plant/2386/scottish-asphodel Retrieved at 11.04 on Monday 8/1/24. T. thibetica is one of the frequently-used ingredients in poly-herbal alcoholic extracts used topically to treat herpes, shingles, wounds, and snake bites. by the Naxi people of the Hengduan Mountains of Northwestern Yunnan. This species has also been recorded (under the older synonym of T. iridacea Franch.) as one the medicinal plants of Mount Emei (in Sichuan) : a decoction of the plant has been used locally as an emmenagogue and a remedy for leukorrhea, although it is not used in mainstream Chinese medicine.Perry, Lily M. assisted by Metzger, Judith Medicinal Plants of East and Southeast Asia, pub. The MIT Press 1980 , page 242 (in list of lesser-known plants classified under the catch-all of Liliaceae sensu lato).
Use in folk magic In Scotland, the species T. pusilla (under the honorific common name of "King's Knot") was formerly believed to have apotropaic powers. For this reason, it was often deliberately planted near homes and farms to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.
Ornamental use The European T. calyculata and the American species formerly known as T. racemosa (now correctly known as Triantha racemosa) have both occasionally been cultivated as ornamentals, while T. pusilla has been deemed too small and easily overlooked to have any garden value.The Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening ed. Chittenden, Fred J., 2nd edition, by Synge, Patrick M. Volume IV : Pt.-Zy. Pub. Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1965. Reprinted 1984. , page 2121.
Toxicity when raw
The acridity and potential toxicity of Tofieldia spp., when raw, may be accounted for by the fact that the genus, like other basal monocots (including, most notably, the related plant family Araceae) contains calcium oxalate crystals, present, in the case of Tofieldia, arranged in druses and as cuboidal crystals, rather than the raphides more usual in the Araceae. In this connection, it may be noted that the species T. pusilla, when used in Scottish traditional medicine is prepared as a herbal tea and thus subjected to both heat and steeping - both of which are used in the preparation of calcium oxalate-containing plants for food, as a means of eliminating the irritating oxalate crystals - most notably in the case of the popular tropical vegetable taro.The Morton Arboretum Quarterly, Morton Arboretum/University of California, 1965, p. 36.
Gallery
References
External links Jepson Manual: Tofieldia USDA Plants Profile