Agrostemma githago

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Ordo: Caryophyllales

Familia: Caryophyllaceae
Tribus: Sileneae
Genus: Agrostemma
Species: Agrostemma githago
Subspecies: A. g. subsp. githago – A. g. subsp. thessalum
Name

Agrostemma githago L., Sp. Pl. 1: 435 (1753).

Lectotype (designated by Ghafoor in Jafri & El-Gadi, Fl. Libya 59: 56): Herb. Linnaeus No. 601.1 (LINN).

Synonyms

Homotypic
Lychnis agrostemma Ledeb., Fl. Altaic. 2: 284 (1830), nom. illeg.
Lychnis githago (L.) Scop., Fl. Carniol ed. 2 1: 310 (1771).
Silene githago (L.) Clairv., Man. Herbor. Suisse 145 (1811).
Silene githago (L.) E.H.L.Krause, Deutschl. Fl. (Sturm), ed. 2 5: 121 (1901), comb. superfl.
Agrostemma githago var. typica Fiori, Nuov. Fl. Italia 1: 518 (1924), nom. inval.
Heterotypic
see Agrostemma githago subsp. githago

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Europe
Regional: Northern Europe
Denmark, Finland, Føroyar (introduced), Great Britain, Iceland (introduced), Ireland, Norway, Sweden.
Regional: Middle Europe
Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic, Slovakia), Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland.
Regional: Southwestern Europe
Baleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain.
Regional: Southeastern Europe
Albania, Bulgaria, Greece,itzerland.html">Switzerland, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Sicilia (Malta, Sicily), Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia)
Regional: Eastern Europe
Belarus, Baltic States (Estonia, Kaliningrad, Latvia, Lithuania), Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia (introduced), South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine.
Continental: Africa
Regional: Northern Africa
Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia.
Regional: Macaronesia
Canary Islands (Gran Canaria) (introduced).
Regional: East Tropical Africa (all introduced)
Kenya
Regional: Southern Africa (all introduced)
Cape Provinces, Northern Provinces
Continental: Asia-Temperate
Regional: Siberia
Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, West Siberia.
Regional: Russian Far East
Amur, Primorye
Regional: Middle Asia
Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan
Regional: Caucasus
North Caucasus, Transcaucasus (Armenia).
Regional: Western Asia
Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria (Lebanon, Syria), Palestine (Israel), Turkey.
Regional: China
Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Xinjiang.
Regional: Eastern Asia
Japan, Korea.
Continental: Asia-Tropical
Regional: Indian Subcontinent
Pakistan.
Continental: Northern America (all introduced)
Regional: Subarctic America
Alaska.
Regional: Western Canada
Manitoba, Saskatchewan.
Regional: Eastern Canada
New Brunswick, Ontario, Prince Edward Isle, Québec.
Regional: Northwestern U.S.A.
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming.
Regional: North-Central U.S.A.
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin.
Regional: Northeastern U.S.A.
Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia.
Regional: Southwestern U.S.A.
California.
Regional: South-Central U.S.A.
New Mexico, Texas.
Regional: Southeastern U.S.A.
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia.
Continental: Southern America (all introduced)
Regional: Brazil
Brazil South.
Regional: Southern South America
Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Chile Central, Uruguay.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus I: 435. Reference page.

Additional references

Hammer, K., Hanelt, P.H. & Knüpffer, H. 1982. Vorarbeiten zur monographischen Darstellung von Wildpflanzensortimenten: Agrostemma L. Die Kulturpflanze 30(1): 45–96. DOI: 10.1007/bf02098385 Reference page.

Links

Hassler, M. 2019. Agrostemma githago. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2019. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2019 Sep 12. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2019. Agrostemma githago in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2019 Sep 12. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2019. Agrostemma githago. Published online. Accessed: Sep 12 2019.
Tropicos.org 2019. Agrostemma githago. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 12 Sep 2019.
Tela Botanica (ed.) 2000 onwards: Tela Botanica. Le réseau de la botanique francophone. eFlore. Agrostemma githago. Association Tela Botanica, Montpellier, France. Accessed: 2019 Sep 12.
Euro+Med 2006 onwards: Agrostemma githago in Euro+Med PlantBase – the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Published online. Accessed: 2019 Sep 12.
African Plants Database (version 3.4.0). 12. Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève and South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Accessed: Sep.
Buttler, K.P., Thieme, M. & collborators 2018. Florenliste von Deutschland – Gefäßpflanzen, Version 10. Frankfurt am Main, August 2018, published on the internet (http://www.kp-buttler.de).

Vernacular names
العربية: خرم الحنطة
català: Niella
kaszëbsczi: Kąkel
čeština: Koukol polní
Cymraeg: Bulwg yr ŷd
dansk: Almindelig Klinte
Deutsch: Kornrade
dolnoserbski: Wšedny kukel

Ελληνικά, Κυπριακά: Αγρόστεμμα

English: Corncockle
español: Neguilla
eesti: Harilik äiakas
euskara: Beltxata
suomi: Isoaurankukka
français: Nielle des blés
hornjoserbsce: Wšědna kukel
magyar: Vetési konkoly
հայերեն: Արջնդեղ
italiano: Gittaione
қазақша: Егістік қарамықшасы
lietuvių: Dirvinė raugė
latviešu: Lauku kokalis
norsk bokmål: Klinte
Nederlands: Bolderik
norsk: Klinte
polski: Kąkol polny
română: Neghină
русский: Куколь обыкновенный
slovenčina: Kúkoľ poľný
slovenščina: Navadni kokalj
svenska: Klätt
Türkçe: Buğdaykaramuğu
українська: Кукіль звичайний
oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча: Randak
中文（简体）: 麦仙翁
中文（繁體）: 麥仙翁
中文（臺灣）: 麥仙翁
中文: 麦仙翁

Agrostemma githago, the common corn-cockle (also written "corncockle") is a herbaceous annual flowering plant in the pink and carnation family Caryophyllaceae.

Description

It grows with a stem to 100 cm (39 in) long with lanceolate leaves. The flowers are up to 5 cm (2.0 in) in diameter, usually single at the ends of the stem. The sepals have five narrow teeth much longer than the petals. It has ten stamens.[1] It has slender pink flowers. It is an erect plant covered with fine hairs. Its few branches are each tipped with a single deep pink to purple flower. The flowers are scentless, 25–50 mm (1.0–2.0 in) across, and produced in the summer months – May to September in the northern hemisphere, November to March in the southern hemisphere.

Each petal bears two or three discontinuous black lines. The five narrow pointed sepals exceed the petals and are joined at the base to form a rigid tube with ten ribs. Leaves are pale green, opposite, narrowly lanceolate, held nearly erect against stem and are 45–145 mm (1.8–5.7 in) long. Seeds are produced in a many-seeded capsule. It can be found in fields, roadsides, railway lines, waste places, and other disturbed areas.
Ecology

In the 19th century, it was reported as a very common weed of European wheat fields and its seeds were inadvertently included in harvested wheat seed and then resown the following season. It is very likely that until the 20th century, most wheat contained some corn cockle seed. It is susceptible to downy mildew caused by the oomycete species Peronospora agrostemmatis.[2]
Distribution
Corn cockle.jpg

It is now present in many parts of the temperate world as an alien species, probably introduced with imported European wheat. It is known to occur throughout much of the United States and parts of Canada, parts of Australia and New Zealand.

In parts of Europe, intensive mechanized farming has put the plant at risk and it is now uncommon or locally distributed. This is partly due to changing patterns of agriculture with most wheat now sown in the autumn as winter wheat and then harvested before any corn cockle would have flowered or set seed. The main reason, however, is that the cereal seed is better cleaned. The plant was believed to be completely extirpated in the United Kingdom until 2014, when a single specimen was found growing in Sunderland by an assistant ranger of the National Trust.[3]

It can be found in fields, roadsides, railway lines, waste places, and other disturbed areas.
Toxicity

All parts of the plant are poisonous and contain githagin and agrostemmic acid. It has been used in folk medicine despite the risk of fatal poisoning.[4]
See also

List of poisonous plants

References

Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G.; Warburg, E.F. (1968). Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-04656-4.
Constantinescu, O. (1991). "An annotated list of Peronospora names". Thunbergia. 15.
"'Extinct' corncockle flower found near Souter Lighthouse". BBC News. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
"Corn Cockle Uses, Benefits & Dosage". Drugs.com.