Paronychia (plant)
Paronychia is a genus of plants in the family Caryophyllaceae with over 110 species worldwide, mostly from warm-temperate North America, Eurasia, South America and Africa. They are herbs that are annual or biennial or perennial in life span. Some species have a woody base. For the most part they have small, white to yellow-white colored flowers that are often hidden within the paired bracts.
Paronychia | |
---|---|
Paronychia argentea | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Caryophyllales |
Family: | Caryophyllaceae |
Genus: | Paronychia Mill. |
Species | |
110+, see text |
The genus Siphonychia has been incorporated into Paronychia by botanists.
The common names for some of the species include chickweed, nailwort, and Whitlow-wort. The genus gets its name from the disease of the fingernails which it was once thought to cure. Traditional healers in modern-day use species of this genus to treat kidney stones.[1]
Selected species
- Paronychia ahartii – Ahart's nailwort
- Paronychia argentea – Algerian tea[2]
- Paronychia argyrocoma – Silvery nailwort[3]
- Paronychia canadensis – smooth-forked nailwort
- Paronychia chartacea – paper nailwort
- Paronychia drummondii – Drummond's nailwort
- Paronychia fastigiata – hairy-forked nailwort
- Paronychia franciscana – San Francisco nailwort
- Paronychia jamesii – James' nailwort
- Paronychia rugelii – Rugel's nailwort
- Paronychia sessiliflora – creeping nailwort
- Paronychia virginica – Virginia nailwort or Yellow nailwort[4]
References
- Jardat, Nidal Amin; et al. (May 8, 2017). "Ethnopharmacological survey of medicinal plants practiced by traditional healers and herbalists for treatment of some urological diseases in the West Bank/Palestine". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 17 (1). doi:10.1186/s12906-017-1758-4. PMC 5422913. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
- "Paronychia argentea Lam". Plants For A Future.
- "Paronychia argyrocoma (Michx.) Nutt. - silvery nailwort". Natural Resources Conservation Services, United States Department of Agriculture.
- "Paronychia virginica Spreng. – yellow nailwort". Natural Resources Conservation Services, United States Department of Agriculture.