Eryngium campestre (L) Field Eryngo
NOMENCLATURE
Eryngium : from Greek: to cure indigestion and wind.
campestre : of the field.
OTHER NAMES : Watling street thistle : abundant in that street,
in Plymouth. Hundred headed thistle, Daneweed.
BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION
TYPE: pale green, glaucous perennial. Hs. ROOTS : deep, spreading rhizomes.
STEMS: ridgid, solid, 25-60 cm. Hs. UMBELS : 1-1.5cm, ovoid.
LEAVES: basal 5-20cm, coriaceous, stalked. cauline-sessile, subcordate at base,
clasping the stem, pinnately divided. Primary divisions decurrent in the rhachis.
Segments spinose-serrate, with thick prominent midrib ending in a stout spine, and
a thick cartilaginous margin. Petioles winged, = to lamina. Cauline leaves <, & < divided,
sessile, with broad spiny-margined semi-amplexicaul base. Tough, leathery.
Cotyledons contracted into a petiole.
BRACTS: 5-8, x1-3 > than capitulum, linear, lancolate, spinous apex, entire or with 1(-2)
pairs of lateral spines, bracteoles subulate, spinous, entire, 2-3 times as long as the firs.
FLOWERS: form in numerous pedunculate, ovoid capitula 1-1.5cm. White or pale blue.
Sepals 2.5mm, teeth rigid, acute or pungent, longer than the petals, prominent midrib,
which is excurrent as a stout spine. Petals narrow, erect, deeply notched tip inflexed.
Ovary with > or < flat. disc at apex. Styles slightly thickened. Fl. 7-8. 2n=14, 28.
FRUIT : 2.5-5mm. Ovoid, subterete, scarcely compressed, scaly or papillose.
Commisure broad. Carpophore present. Carpels obscurely ridged vittae slender,
densely scaly. Styles 4mm, divergent to recurved. Stigma tapering. 2n=14, 28.
HABITAT: dry rough grassland near coast, waste places, roadsides.
DISTRIBUTION: introduced, established in Plymouth by 1670. Scattered through
S. Britain. Holland to Germany S.. S.W. Asia. N. Africa. N. America.
MEDICINAL USES
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS : essential oil saponin, sugar.
PARTS : rootstock and fresh flowering herb.
APPLICATION: dropsy, bladder stones, infections of urinary tract, skin disorders,
whooping cough, abdominal colic, promoting menstrual discharge: decoction
1-2 tspoons per cup water, simmer 1 mi and stand for 4-10mm. 2-3 times day.
HISTORICAL MEDICINAL USES
Promotes free expectoration & for debility in attendant chronic coughs, in advanced
stages of pulmonary consumption, roots infusion. In paralysis, chronic nervous
diseases, delirium, kidney & scorbutic complaints, bladder disease, obstructions in
liver, jaundice, diuretic, restorative, scrofula, decoction of roots. Bruised & boiled
roots in bog’s fat for broken bones, thorns.
