Biology:Veratrum californicum

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Short description: Species of plant

Veratrum californicum
Veratrum californicum habitus1.jpg
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Melanthiaceae
Genus: Veratrum
Species:
V. californicum
Binomial name
Veratrum californicum
Durand

Veratrum californicum (California corn lily, white or California false hellebore) is an extremely poisonous plant[1] native to western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, as far north as Washington (state) and as far south as Durango; depending on latitude, it grows from near sea level to as high as 11,000 feet.[2][3] It grows 1 to 2 meters tall, with an erect, unbranched, heavily leafy stem resembling a cornstalk.[4] It prefers quite moist soil, and can cover large areas in dense stands near streams or in wet meadows. Many inch-wide flowers cluster along the often-branched top of the stout stem; they have 6 white tepals, a green center, 6 stamens, and a 3-branched pistil (see image below). The buds are tight green spheres. The heavily veined, bright green leaves can be more than a foot long.[3]

Veratrum californicum displays mast seeding; populations bloom and seed little in most years, but in occasional years bloom and seed heavily in synchrony.[5] The species usually blooms during midsummer from July to August.[6]

Varieties[2]
  1. Veratrum californicum var. californicum – from Washington to Durango
  2. Veratrum californicum var. caudatum (A.Heller) C.L.Hitchc. – Idaho, Washington, Oregon, N California

Teratogenic effects

It is a source of jervine, muldamine and cyclopamine, teratogens which can cause prolonged gestation associated with birth defects[7] such as holoprosencephaly and cyclopia in animals such as sheep,[1] horses, and other mammals that graze upon it. These substances inhibit the hedgehog signaling pathway.[8]

Gallery

  • Swath of corn lilies in meadow

  • Leaves on a young plant

  • Closeup of flowers

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Whitney, Stephen (1985). Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides). New York: Knopf. p. 551. ISBN 0-394-73127-1. https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/551. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Blackwell, Laird R. (1998). Wildflowers of the Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley. Lone Pine Publishing. ISBN 1-55105-226-1. 
  4. ↑ Niehaus, Theodore F.; Ripper, Charles L.; Savage, Virginia (1984). A Field Guide to Southwestern and Texas Wildflowers. Houghton Mifflin Company. pp. 10–11. ISBN 0-395-36640-2. https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetosout00nieh/page/10. 
  5. ↑ Inouye, David W.; Wielgolaski, Frans E. (2003). "High Altitude Climates". in Schwarz, Mark D.. Phenology: An Integrative Environmental Science. Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 195–214. ISBN 1-4020-1580-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=OKOAOPgBZpkC&pg=PA203. Retrieved 2011-12-07. 
  6. ↑ Southwest, The American. "California Corn Lily, Veratrum Californicum". https://www.americansouthwest.net/plants/wildflowers/veratrum-californicum.html. 
  7. ↑ Van Kampen & Ellis. "Prolonged Gestation in Ewes Ingesting Veratrum californicum: Morphological Changes and Steroid Biosynthesis in the Endocrine Organs of Cyclopic Lambs". http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/cgi/content/abstract/52/3/549. 
  8. ↑ Chen, J; Taipale, J; Cooper, M. (2002). "Inhibition of Hedgehog Signaling by direct binding of Cyclopamine to Smoothened". Genes Dev. 16 (21): 2743–2748. doi:10.1101/gad.1025302. PMID 12414725. 

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q2712513 entry




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