Teucrium nummulariifolium Baker
الجعدة
For people
- Eaten by people
- Unknown
- Toxic to people
- Unknown
For livestock
- Grazed by livestock
- Not grazed
- Toxic to livestock
- Unknown
Edibility and safety notes
No reliable information on whether people can eat this Dhofar endemic was found; the Omani field guide says only that it is used in medicine and that livestock do not graze it. Its toxicity has not been studied, but other germanders (Teucrium) taken as herbal teas or capsules have caused serious liver injury, so it should not be eaten or drunk as a home remedy.
This guide is a hobby project, not expert advice. Never eat a wild plant, or feed it to animals, on the strength of this page alone. Read the disclaimer
Description
A softly hairy, aromatic, woody-based perennial herb, decumbent to ascending, with stems 9-30 cm long covered in white hairs. Leaves opposite, grey-green, obovate to almost round, 6-22 mm long and 5-21 mm wide, with about five pairs of shallow lobes in the upper part and stalkless glands. Flowers stalkless, crowded in oblong to spike-like (rarely head-like) terminal or lateral clusters, with leaf-like bracts as long as or slightly longer than the calyces. Calyx bell-shaped to tubular, hairy, 6-7 mm long. Corolla pink to purple, 8.5-12 mm long. Stamens 4. Fruit of 4 wrinkled-reticulate, very dark brown nutlets about 1.5-2 mm long. Flowers February-April and September-November.
Habitat
Varied habitats in Dhofar from wet wooded escarpment slopes and grasslands to drier rocky slopes with Acacia and Commiphora, also gravel plains and coastal cliff tops, at 50-1100 m.
Distribution
Endemic to southern Oman (Dhofar) and adjacent eastern Yemen (Al Mahrah).
Pastoral value
Not grazed by livestock.
Other uses
Reported to be used in traditional medicine (the source gives no details).
Sources
- الدليل الحقلي المصور للنباتات البرية في سلطنة عُمان (BOOK.pdf p.127)
- King, R.A. (1988) Studies in the Flora of Arabia XIX: Teucrium in the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra. Notes RBG Edinburgh 45(1) — journals.rbge.org.uk
- GBIF species match — Teucrium nummulariifolium Baker (accepted) — api.gbif.org
- IPNI — Teucrium nummulariifolium Baker, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1895: 185 — ipni.org
- World Flora Online — Teucrium nummulariifolium (accepted; synonym T. paulayanum) — list.worldfloraonline.org
- Abu Dhabi DoH medicinal plants leaflet — Teucrium (genus liver-toxicity caution) — medicinalplants.doh.gov.ae
