Dimorphocarpa_wislizeni

<i>Dimorphocarpa wislizeni</i>

Dimorphocarpa wislizeni

Species of flowering plant

Dimorphocarpa wislizeni, commonly known as spectacle pod, Wislizeni's spectaclepod, and touristplant, is a flowering plant in the mustard family native to western North America, where it occurs in the southwestern United States as far east as Oklahoma and Texas, and Baja California, Sonora,[2] Chihuahua, and Coahuila in Mexico.[3]

Quick Facts Dimorphocarpa wislizeni, Conservation status ...

Description

This species is an annual herb with a branching or unbranched stem 10 to 80 centimeters tall. The basal leaves are lance-shaped with toothed or lobed edges. Leaves higher on the stem are narrower, with less divided or smooth edges. The flowers have white or lavender petals 4 to 8 millimeters long. The fruit is a double-lobed, winged silicle that breaks in half at maturity, each lobe carrying a flat seed 2 or 3 millimeters wide.[3]

The plant grows in sandy and sandstone substrates[3] in desert shrubland, pinyon-juniper, and ponderosa pine associations.[4]

The seed pods of Dimorphocarpa wislizeni are flat, green, two-lobed capsules that superficially resemble spectacles, hence the common name. This feature makes identification of Spectacle Pod easy.

Uses

The Zuni people applied a warm infusion of the pulverized plant to swelling, especially the throat. A decoction of entire plant was given for delirium.[5] An infusion of the plant was taken by men to "loosen their tongues so they may talk like fools and drunken men."[6] The flower and fruit eaten as an emetic for stomachaches.[7]

References

  1. [1]
    NatureServe (2023). "Dimorphocarpa wislizeni". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  2. [2]
    "Dimorphocarpa wislizeni". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  3. [3]
    Dimorphocarpa wislizeni. Flora of North America.
  4. [4]
    Dimorphocarpa wislizeni. NatureServe. 2012.
  5. [5]
    Stevenson, M. C. 1915. Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 (p.48-49)
  6. [6]
    Stevenson, p.91
  7. [7]
    Camazine, S. and R. A. Bye. 1980. A study of the medical ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians of New Mexico. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2 365-88. (p.375)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dimorphocarpa wislizeni.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Dimorphocarpa_wislizeni, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.