Visnaga daucoides Gaertn.

[UPFC]

Distribution: Biogeografic region: Andean. Elevation range: 1600–1720 m a.s.l. Naturalised in Colombia. Colombian departments: Cundinamarca.
Habit: Herb.
Ecology: Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: artificial - terrestrial.

[FIQ]

Ghazanfar, S. A. & Edmondson, J. R (Eds). (2014) Flora of Iraq, Volume 5 Part 2: Lythraceae to Campanulaceae.

Morphology General Habit: Erect, glabrous annual (sometimes biennial?), 25–75(–100) cm Plant very leafy, radical leaves 3 or 4-pinnate, with a deltoid-ovate lamina (withered at flowering); cauline leaves all similar, 2 or 3-pinnatisect into narrow linear-filiform entire segments, mostly 5–20 × 0.5–0.75 mm, each with a mucronate tip
Morphology Stem: Stem very stout, terete, striate, erect, branched from near base
Morphology Branches: Branches long, ascending
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences: Partial umbels many (± 50)-flowered, pedicels 1–7 mm, also set on a disk Umbels large, with very many (up to 100) stout rays; rays spreading 10–30 cm in flower, closing up together in fruit and elongating to as much as 8 cm, fusing at the base on to a prominent, firm disk which surmounts the parent branch; bracts of the involucre large, deflexed at base and then spreading, 2 or 3-pinnatisect, subequalling the length of the rays
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Peduncles: Peduncles 5–12(–16) cm
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts: Bracts of the involucel numerous (12–20), linear-filiform, entire, subequalling the partial umbels
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits: Fruit glabrous, ovoid or ovoid-oblong, 2 mm long, ribs narrow, not very prominent
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Style: Styles long and reflexed, much exceeding the conical stylopodia.
Ecology: Moist places, by streams, banks of ditches, a common weed in fields, among cereal stubble, on an abandoned hill, rice fields, etc.; alt. 50–600(–1500) m
Phenology: Flowering and fruiting: May–Jul.(–Aug.).
Distribution: Rare in the forest zone, but quite common in the steppe region of Iraq; also on the alluvial plain in the desert region. Mediterranean Europe (Portugal & Spain to Greece), Aegean Isles, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Arabia, Turkey, Caucasus, Iran, N Africa (Morocco, Algeria), Macaronesia (Madeira, Canary Is.). Introduced elsewhere and subspontaneous as a weed (e.g. Britain, China, N, C & S America).
Note: Toothpick Bishop’s-weed; also sometimes called Toothpick, Spanish Carrot, Toothpick Ammi (Am.), etc.; ? KASRI (Ir.-Mosul, Nabělek 354 – “dried rays of umbels used as toothpicks”); KHAIZARAN (Guest (1932), Ir.-Baghdad district, Guest 2433 – “dry heads used as toothpicks; seeds boiled and decoction given to children with bad breath”; Ir.-Kirkuk, Rawi 15174 – “weed used as fuel”); ?DAIRAM (Ir.-Mosul, Guest 4033); ?KURAILA (Kurd.-Halabja, Guest 1294). V. Tackholm (1974) who has added to the list of vernacular Egyptian Arabic plant-names drawn up by Drar and published in Stud. Fl. Egypt ed. 1 (1956), gives KHILLA, KHILLĀL (Eg.) and other variants, based on the Arabic roots KHALIA (“pierce”) and KHALLALA (“to pick the teeth”) as the common vernacular names for this plant in Egypt. Handel-Mazzetti (1913) noted the Arabic name HULL, from Syria (probably for KHALL, cf. KHALLA above) as recorded on the label of a specimen collected at Aleppo (Hakim 22).

[CPLC]

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution: Adventicia en Colombia; Alt. 1600 - 1720 m.; Andes.
Morphology General Habit: Hierba
Conservation: No Evaluada

[UPFC]

Use Food: Used for food.
Use Materials: Used as material.
Use Medicines: Medical uses.
Use Poisons: Poisons.

[FIQ]

Use: The name KHILLA was also recorded from the Levant by Post (1896), though whether from Egypt, Lebanon or Palestine is not mentioned. Zohary (1972) states that the seeds of this plant are the main source of the drug Khellin, their medicinal properties being as a diuretic and emmenagogue; he also says that they are used to make red dye in Iraq, though the source of this information is not quoted. Lindley & Moore (1870) noted that the rays or stalks of the main umbel of this species shrunk after flowering and became so hard that they form convenient tooth-picks in Spain and, after they had fulfilled that purpose, that they are chewed and held to be of service in cleaning the gums, while the leaves have a pleasant aromatic flavour in the mouth.

Native to:

Albania, Algeria, Azores, Baleares, Canary Is., Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, North Caucasus, Palestine, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe

Extinct in:

Juan Fernández Is.

Introduced into:

Alabama, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Belgium, Brazil South, California, Chile Central, China Southeast, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Florida, Great Britain, Japan, Juan Fernández Is., Mexico Southwest, North Carolina, Oregon, Pakistan, Pennsylvania, Peru, Texas, Uruguay, Vietnam

English: Toothpick-plant