Leonurus cardiaca

Leonurus cardiaca, Photo: Michael Lahanas

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Lamiales

Familia: Lamiaceae
Subfamilia: Lamioideae
Tribus: Leonureae
Genus: Leonurus
Species: Leonurus cardiaca
Name

Leonurus cardiaca L., 1753
Synonyms

Homotypic
Lamium cardiaca (L.) Baill., Iconogr. Fl. Fr.: t. 270.
Leonurus ruderalis Salisb., Prodr. Stirp. Chap. Allerton: 84 (1796), nom. superfl.
Heterotypic
Leonurus cardiaca var. intermedius Holub in ?.
Leonurus crispus Murray, Novi Comment. Soc. Regiae Sci. Gott. 8: 44 (1777).
Cardiaca trilobata Lam., Fl. Franç. 2: 383 (1779).
Cardiaca glabra Gilib., Fl. Lit. Inch. 1: 85 (1782), opus utique oppr.
Leonurus glabra (Gilib.) Gilib., Fl. Lit. Inch. 2: 321 (1782), opus utique oppr.
Cardiaca stachys Medik., Bot. Beob. 1783: 126 (1784).
Cardiaca crispa (Murray) Moench, Methodus: 401 (1794).
Cardiaca vulgaris Moench, Methodus: 401 (1794).
Stachys triloba Stokes, Bot. Mat. Med. 3: 329 (1812).
Leonurus lacerus Lindl., Trans. Hort. Soc. London 6: 298 (1826).
Leonurus neglectus Schrank, Syll. Pl. Nov. 2: 61 (1826).
Leonurus campestris Andrz. ex Benth., Labiat. Gen. Spec.: 518 (1834).
Leonurus illyricus Benth., Labiat. Gen. Spec.: 518 (1834).
Leonurus aconitifolius Scheidw., Hort. Belge 4: 395 (1837 publ. 1838).
Leonurus multifidus Raf., Autik. Bot.: 116 (1840), nom. illeg.
Leonurus cardiaca var. capitatus Wender., Index Seminum (MB, Marburgensis) 1841: 5 (1841).
Leonurus cardiaca var. adscendens K.Koch, Linnaea 21: 680 (1849).
Leonurus discolor W.D.J.Koch, Linnaea 21: 680 (1849).
Leonurus trilobatus (Lam.) Dulac, Fl. Hautes-Pyrénées: 409 (1867).
Leonurus cardiaca var. rotundifolia Zalewski, Kosmos (Lvov) 5/6: 15 (1896).
Leonurus cardiaca subsp. intermedius (Holub) Dostál, Folia Mus. Rerum Nat. Bohemiae Occid., Bot. 21: 11 (1984).
Leonurus cardiaca var. hirtella Holub, Preslia 65: 107 (1993).
Leonurus intermedius Holub, Preslia 65: 102 (1993), nom. illeg.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Eurasia
Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Ukraine, West Siberia, Yugoslavia
Introduced into:
Alabama, Alberta, Argentina Northeast, Arkansas, British Columbia, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Southeast, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Primorye, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Carolina, South Dakota, Spain, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Himalaya, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

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

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus II: 584. Reference page.

Additional references

Govaerts, R.H.A. 2003. World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. [unavailable for the public] Reference page.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2022. Leonurus cardiaca in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2022 Mar 25. Reference page.
Hassler, M. 2022. Leonurus cardiaca. 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. 2022. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2022 Mar 25. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2022. Leonurus cardiaca. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 25 Mar 2022.
International Plant Names Index. 2022. Leonurus cardiaca. Published online. Accessed: Mar 25 2022.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Leonurus cardiaca in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 07-Oct-06.

Vernacular names
български: Дяволска уста
čeština: Srdečník obecný
Deutsch: Echtes Herzgespann
Ελληνικά: Λεόνουρος ο Καρδιοειδής
English: Motherwort
suomi: Rohtonukula, nukula
français: Agripaume
hornjoserbsce: Somoćana křižowka
Nederlands: Hartgespan
polski: Serdecznik pospolity
slovenčina: Srdcovník obyčajný
svenska: Hjärtstilla
українська: Собача кропива п'ятилопатева

Leonurus cardiaca, known as motherwort,[2] is an herbaceous perennial plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. Other common names include throw-wort, lion's ear, and lion's tail. Lion's tail is also a common name for Leonotis leonurus, and lion's ear, a common name for Leonotis nepetifolia. Originally from Central Asia and southeastern Europe, it is now found worldwide, spread largely due to its use as a herbal remedy.

Description

Leonurus cardiaca has a squarish stem which is clad in short hairs and is often purplish, especially near the nodes. The opposite leaves have serrated margins and are palmately lobed with long petioles; basal leaves are wedge shaped with three points while the upper leaves have three to five. They are slightly hairy above and greyish beneath. Flowers appear in leaf axils on the upper part of the plant and have three-lobed bracts. The calyx of each flower is bell-shaped and has five lobes. The corolla is irregular, 8 to 12 mm (0.3 to 0.5 in) long, fused, long-tubed with two lips. The upper lip is convex and covered with white hairs and the lower lip is three-lobed and downward-curving and spotted with red. The flowers are pink to lilac in colour often with furry lower lips. There are four protruding stamens, two short and two longer, and the fruit is a four-chambered schizocarp. The plant grows to about 60 to 100 cm (24 to 39 in) in height and blooms in mid to late summer.[3]
Distribution and habitat

Motherwort is probably native to the southeastern part of Europe and central Asia where it has been cultivated since ancient times. Its natural habitat is beside roadsides, in vacant fields, waste ground, rubbish dumps and other disturbed areas. This plant prefers well drained soil and a partly shady location. Introduced to North America as a bee foraging plant and to attract bumble bees, this perennial herb is now considered invasive. It is hardy in USDA climate zones 4–8.[4]
Folklore

Nicholas Culpeper considered motherwort useful for removing melancholy vapors from the heart, improving cheerfulness, and settling the wombs of mothers.[5] In 15th century Europe, motherwort was considered by some herbalists to protect against evil spirits.[6]
Chemistry
Chemical structure of stachydrine

The herb contains the alkaloid leonurine.[7] Among other chemical constituents, it also contains stachydrine,[8] bitter iridoid glycosides (leonuride), diterpenoids, flavonoids (including rutin and quercetin), tannins, volatile oils, and vitamin A. Stachydrine is extracted from the leaves of Motherwort and has demonstrated various bioactivities for the treatment of fibrosis, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, uterine diseases, brain injuries, and inflammation.[9]
References

Linnaeus, Carl (1753). Species Plantarum. Vol. 2. Stockholm: Lars Salvius. p. 584.
BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
"Motherwort: Leonurus cardiaca". NatureGate. Retrieved 2013-12-14.
Leonurus cardiaca L. Common motherwort. NRCS PLANTS database. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
Culpeper, Nicholas (1814). Culpeper's Complete Herbal. No. 8, White's Row, Spitalfields: Richard Evans. p. 121.
Grieve, Maude (1971). A Modern Herbal Vol. II. New York: Dover Publications. p. 556.
Kuhn, Merrily A.; Winston, David (2000). Herbal therapy supplements: a scientific traditional approach. Philadelphia: Lippincott. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-7817-2643-6.
Kuchta, K.; Volk, R.B.; Rauwald, H.W. (2013). "Stachydrine in Leonurus cardiaca, Leonurus japonicus, Leonotis leonurus: Detection and quantification by instrumental HPTLC and 1H-qNMR analyses". Die Pharmazie. 68 (7): 534–40. PMID 23923634.

Cheng, F.; Zhou, Y.; Wang, M.; Guo, C.; Cao, Z.; Zhang, R.; Peng, C. (2020). "A review of pharmacological and pharmacokinetic properties of stachydrine". Pharmacological Research. 155: 104755. doi:10.1016/j.phrs.2020.104755. PMID 32173585.