Narthecium ossifragum

"Bog asphodel" redirects here. For other plants sometimes called bog asphodel, see Narthecium americanum and Narthecium californicum.

Narthecium ossifragum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Dioscoreales
Family: Nartheciaceae
Genus: Narthecium
Species:
N. ossifragum
Binomial name
Narthecium ossifragum

Narthecium ossifragum, commonly known as bog asphodel,[1] Lancashire asphodel or bastard asphodel,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Nartheciaceae. It is native to Western Europe, found on wet, boggy moorlands up to about 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in elevation. It produces spikes of bright yellow flowers in summer. The bright orange fruits have been used as a colourant to replace saffron by Shetland Islanders.[3] Despite the plant's English name "bog asphodel", it is not particularly closely related to the true asphodels. In addition to other forms of pollination, this plant is adapted to rain-pollination.[4] The Latin specific name ossifragum means "bone-breaker", and refers to a traditional belief that eating the plant caused sheep to develop brittle bones. The probable origin of this story is that sheep eating a calcium-poor diet are likely to develop bone weakness, and N. ossifragum favours acidic low-calcium soils.[3]

  1. ^ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. ^ "Pacific Bulb Society | Narthecium". pacificbulbsociety.org. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
  3. ^ a b Richard Mabey Flora Britannica
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference pollin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).