Lathraea

Toothwort
Common toothwort (Lathraea squamaria)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Orobanchaceae
Genus: Lathraea
L.
Species

Lathraea clandestina
Lathraea japonica
Lathraea purpurea
Lathraea rhodopea
Lathraea squamaria

Lathraea (toothwort) is a small genus of five to seven species of flowering plants, native to temperate Europe and Asia. They are parasitic plants on the roots of other plants, and are completely lacking chlorophyll. They are classified in the family Orobanchaceae.

The toothwort is a protocarnivorous plant. Most of the plant consists of a branched whitish underground stem closely covered with thick fleshy colourless leaves, which are bent over so as to hide the under surface; irregular cavities communicating with the exterior are formed in the thickness of the leaf. On the inner walls of these chambers are stalked hairs, which when stimulated by the touch of an insect send out delicate filaments by means of which the insect is killed and digested.[1][2]

Purple Toothwort (Lathraea clandestina)
Lathraea rhodopea

In Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov's "In the Forests" a Russian wise woman (znakharka) calls this plant Peter's Cross and says it protects against devils but only if collected with a prayer to God.

References

Common Toothwort. Illustration from Thomé, Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, 1885

Notes

  1. Francis Ernest Lloyd, The Carnivorous Plants, The Chronica Botanica Company, Waltham, Mass., 1942 - ISBN B0000EGY6B
  2. Encyclopaedia Britannica - Toothwort
  3. Maurice Wilkins, Head Gardener
  4. GRIN. Lathraea clandestina

 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Toothwort". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

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