Figwort Family :

Scrophulariaceae (skrof-yoo-larr-ee-AY-see-ee)

Iconic Features

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)
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