Bupleurum falcatum (L) Sickle-Leaved Hares-Ear
NOMENCLATURE
Bupleurum: see B. baldense
PREVIOUS NAMES: B. scorzoneraefolium. B. chinense.
BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION
TYPE: glabrous perennial. H. ROOTS: stout woody.
STEMS: hollow, striate. HEIGHT : 100cm.
UMBELS: compound, 1-4cm, smooth, pedunculate, sub- equal
rays, 5-11, 5-30mm. Peduncle > than rays.
LEAVES: simple. Basal 10cm, elliptical, long- petiolate, 5 parallel veins, cartilaginous margin.
Lower, linear- lanceolate, often falcate, narrowed into a petiole. Upper linear, sessile,
semi-ampexicaul. Cotyledons tapered gradually at the base, without a distinct petiole.
BRACTS: 2-5, 2-7 mm unequal, lancolate to linear, 3-5 veined. Bracteoles 4-5
lanceolate, often aristate, 3-veined, < than pediceliate firs.
FLOWERS: yellow. Hermaphrodite. Styles form a stylopodium. Fl. 7-10.
FRUIT: 2.5-3mm, ellipsoid, laterally compressed, smooth. Commisure broad. Mericarps with
slender, prominent, narrowly winged ridges. Carpophore present. Vittae small. Pedicels 1-3
mm, slender. Styles 0.5 mm, divergent or appressed to the stylopodium. Stigma truncate. 2n=16.
HABITAT: damp to dry grassland, roadsides, ditches, waste places, hedgerows.
DISTRIBUTION: last record in Britain on a road between Ongar and Chelmsford, Essex, 1831,
but due to hedge and ditch clearance in 1962, now rare. Confined to Essex. Native to
S.C.E Europe, (Belgium, France, Germany). Temperate Asia.
MEDICINAL USES
EFFECT: tonic for liver, circulatory system, lowers fevers, anti-viral.
PARTS: roots.,
APPLICATION: internal decoction for malaria, blackwater fever, uterine & rectal prolapse,
herpes simplex, haemorrhoids, sluggish liver, menstrual disorders, abdominal bloating.
(Plant B in Image)
http://www.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/thome/band3/tafel_051_small.jpg