
Scrophulariaceae (skrof-yoo-larr-ee-AY-see-ee)
Iconic Features
- Generally glandular
- Leaves simple; usually entire and alternate
- Flower a two-lipped tube or bell
Description (Jepson)
- Eudicotyledons (eudicots) – a major lineage of flowering plants including most plants traditionally described as dicots and generally characterized by
- 2 seed leaves (dicotyledon)
- Netted (reticulate) leaf venation
- Flower parts in fours and fives
- Pollen grains with 3 pores (tricolpate)
- Vascular bundles in stem arranged in a ring
- Taproot system
- Annuals or herbaceous perennials, shrubs, and trees; plants generally with glandular hairs (hairs that secrete sticky or oily substances)
- Leaves
- Simple (not divided into leaflets), generally entire (with smooth margins)
- Generally alternate (1 leaf at each junction with stem)
- At Edgewood the only plant in this family, bee plant (Scrophularia californica), has opposite leaves
- Flowers
- Inflorescence (flower arrangement) in many forms
- Usually with bracts (modified leaves) at base
- Bilaterally-symmetrical, bell- or tube-shaped, generally bisexual flowers
- 5 fused sepals (usually green, outer flower parts)
- 4-5 fused petals, divided top and bottom into 2 distinctly-shaped sets (lips)
- Ovary superior (above the attachment of other flower parts)
- Inflorescence (flower arrangement) in many forms
- Fruit a capsule (a dry, multi-chambered fruit that splits open at maturity)
Notes
- Approximately 1,700 species worldwide
- Includes butterfly bush and bee plant
- Scientific name from the included genus Scrophularia, from the resemblance of the rhizomal knobs of some species to human lymph nodes affected by tuberculosis, called scrophula (now scrofula); and/or named for the plant’s supposed ability to cure this disease
- Common name from the use of plants in the genus to treat hemorrhoids, an ailment once known as “figs,” and the suffix “-wort,” from the Old English wyrt, “plant,”
- The suffix “-wort” was commonly used for medicinal plants; the word that precedes the suffix usually refers to the treated ailment
- This family was greatly reduced in the 2012 Jepson based on genetic evidence; take care not to rely on older family descriptions
- Represented by 2 species at Edgewood, one of which is non-native
Specific References
Encyclopædia Britannica. 2014. Figwort. Britannica.
Browse Some Edgewood Plants in this Family
