Pulmonaria

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

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

Familia: Boraginaceae
Subfamilia: Boraginoideae
Tribus: Boragineae
Subtribus: Boragininae
Genus: Pulmonaria
Species: P. affinis – P. angustifolia – P. dacica – P. filarszkyana – P. helvetica – P. kerneri – P. longifolia – P. mollis – P. montana – P. obscura - P. officinalis - – P. rubra – P. saccharata – P. stiriaca – P. vallarsae – P. visianii
Name

Pulmonaria L., Sp. Pl.: 135 (1753).
References
Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2022. Pulmonaria in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2022 May 7. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2022. Pulmonaria. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 7 May 2022.
International Plant Names Index. 2022. Pulmonaria. Published online. Accessed: May 7 2022.
Hassler, M. 2022. World Plants. Synonymic Checklist and Distribution of the World Flora. . Pulmonaria. Accessed: 7 May 2022.
Hassler, M. 2022. Pulmonaria. 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 May 7. Reference page.
Euro+Med 2006 onwards: Pulmonaria in Euro+Med PlantBase – the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Published online. Accessed: 2022 May 7.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2022. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset. Taxon: Pulmonaria. Accessed: 2022 May 7.

Vernacular names
azərbaycanca: Öfgəotu
беларуская: Медуніца
català: Pulmonària
čeština: plicník
чӑвашла: Пыл курăкĕ
dansk: Lungeurt
Deutsch: Lungenkraut
English: Lungworts
eesti: Kopsurohi
suomi: Imikät
français: Pulmonaria
Gaeilge: Crotal coille
magyar: Tüdőfű
Ido: Pulmonario
қазақша: Балшытыр
lietuvių: Plautė
македонски: Медуница
кырык мары: Сӓвсӹль
Nederlands: Longkruid
polski: Miodunka
русский: Медуница
slovenčina: pľúcnik
svenska: Lungörter
Türkçe: Ciğer otu
українська: Медунка
中文: 肺草属

Pulmonaria (lungwort) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae, native to Europe and western Asia, with one species (P. mollissima) east to central Asia. According to various estimates there may be between 10 and 18 species found in the wild.

Description
Arrangement of flowers
Detail of P. officinalis flowers

Lungworts are evergreen or herbaceous[1] perennials that form clumps or rosettes. They are covered in hairs of varied length and stiffness, and sometimes also bear glands. The underground parts consist of a slowly creeping rhizome with adventitious roots. Flowering stems are unbranched, rough, covered with bristly hairs, usually not exceeding 30 cm (12 in), with a few exceptions (P. mollis, P. vallarsae). The stems are usually upright, or slightly spreading. The plants reach 15–25 cm (6–10 in) in height, spreading up to 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide.[2]

The leaves are arranged in rosettes. The blades are usually large, from narrowly lanceolate to oval, with the base ranging from heart shaped to very gradually narrowing, and can have a sharply pointed or blunt tip. The leaf margin is always entire, but in some species and forms can be rather wavy. Basal leaves are carried on stalks that can be short or longer than the leaf blade in various species. Stem leaves are smaller and often narrower, and are unstalked or clasping the stem. All leaves are covered with hairs that are usually bristly, or occasionally soft. The leaves are often prominently spotted in black and blue, or sometimes in pale green, or unspotted. The spots are due to the presence of foliage air pockets. These pockets, which cool the lower leaf surface, mask the presence of chlorophyll.[2]

The inflorescence is a terminal scorpioid cyme as a cymose corymb, with bracts, on short pedicels (stalks), reaching just above the foliage.[2] The flowers are heterostylous, with two distinct forms of flower within each species; those with short stamens and long styles ("pin" flowers) and those with long stamens and short styles ("thrum" flowers), with the former usually being larger and more showy. The calyx is hairy, 5-lobed, tubular or funnel-shaped, enlarging as the fruit ripens. The corolla is funnel-shaped and consists of a long, cylindrical tube and a limb with five shallow lobes. Within the corolla throat, five tufts of hairs alternate with the stamens to form a ring. The colour of the corolla varies from purple, violet or blue to shades of pink and red, or sometimes white. The colour of the flower in bud is often pink to violet when they first emerge, which then changes to blue as the flower matures.[2] The stamens and style are included within the corolla and not protruding.

The nutlets are smooth, egg-shaped, brownish, up to 4.5 mm (0.2 in) long and 3 mm (0.1 in) wide, each containing a single seed. Up to four nutlets per flower are produced, ripening mostly in summer.
Taxonomy

Pulmonaria is a genus in the Boraginoideae subfamily of Boraginaceae, consisting of approximately 18 species, although species delineation (speciation) has proved problematic.[3] Within the Boraginoideae, Pulmonaria is placed in the tribe Boragineae, where it is closely related to Borago.[4]
Etymology

The scientific name Pulmonaria is derived from Latin pulmo (lung).[5] In the times of sympathetic magic, the spotted oval leaves of P. officinalis were thought to symbolize diseased, ulcerated lungs, and so were used to treat pulmonary infections. The common name in many languages also refers to lungs, as in English "lungwort", German Lungenkraut, French herbe aux poumons, Serbian plućnjak... In some East European languages, the common name is derived from a word for honey, e.g. Russian medunitza, Polish miodunka, Serbian meduniče, Bulgarian "медуница".
Distribution and habitat

The species of the genus are distributed across Eurasia.[3]
Ecology

Pulmonaria is an early spring flowering deciduous perennial, retaining its leaves till late winter, just before the new growth emerges.[2]
Pests and diseases

Pulmonaria species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species. These include the case-bearer Coleophora pulmonariella, which feeds exclusively on P. saccharata, and the moth Ethmia pusiella, which has been recorded on P. officinalis.
Cultivation
Pulmonaria on stamp of USSR

Of the known species of Pulmonaria, only about eight are known in cultivation.[2] Pulmonaria are used as ornamental garden plants, particularly P. saccharata, P. angustifolia[1] and P. longifolia. Others include P. affinis.[2]They are especially valued as groundcover in damp shaded areas, producing their blue and/or pink flowers in late winter and early spring, accompanied by dense clusters of heart-shaped leaves that are often strikingly mottled and marbled, throughout summer.

The following cultivars, of mixed or uncertain parentage, have gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit:-[6]

’Blue Ensign’[7]
'Cotton Cool'[8]
’Diana Clare’[9]
’Lewis Palmer’[10]
'Little Star'[11]
Opal = 'Ocupol'[12]
’Sissinghurst White’[13]
'Trevi Fountain'[14]
’Vera May’[15]

References

RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 978-1-4053-3296-5.
Avent 2012.
Meeus et al 2016.
Chacon et al 2016.
Coombes, Allen J. (2012). The A to Z of plant names. USA: Timber Press. pp. 312. ISBN 978-1-60469-196-2.
"AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 81. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
"RHS Plantfinder - Pulmonaria 'Blue Ensign'". Retrieved 23 September 2018.
"Pulmonaria 'Cotton Cool'". RHS. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
"RHS Plantfinder - Pulmonaria 'Diana Clare'". Retrieved 23 September 2018.
"RHS Plantfinder - Pulmonaria 'Lewis Palmer'". Retrieved 23 September 2018.
"Pulmonaria 'Little Star'". RHS. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
"Pulmonaria Opal = 'Ocupol'". RHS. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
"RHS Plantfinder - Pulmonaria 'Sissinghurst White'". Retrieved 23 September 2018.
"Pulmonaria 'Trevi Fountain'". RHS. Retrieved 17 February 2021.

"RHS Plantfinder - Pulmonaria 'Vera May'". Retrieved 23 September 2018.

Bibliography

Avent, Tony (March 2012). "Pulmonaria - The World of Lungworts". Plant Delights. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
Chacón, Juliana; Luebert, Federico; Hilger, Hartmut H.; Ovchinnikova, Svetlana; Selvi, Federico; Cecchi, Lorenzo; Guilliams, C. Matt; Hasenstab-Lehman, Kristen; Sutorý, Karel; Simpson, Michael G.; Weigend, Maximilian (24 June 2016). "The borage family (Boraginaceae s.str.): A revised infrafamilial classification based on new phylogenetic evidence, with emphasis on the placement of some enigmatic genera" (PDF). Taxon. 65 (3): 523–546. doi:10.12705/653.6. hdl:2158/1062785.
Meeus, Sofie; Janssens, Steven; Helsen, Kenny; Jacquemyn, Hans (May 2016). "Evolutionary trends in the distylous genus Pulmonaria (Boraginaceae): Evidence of ancient hybridization and current interspecific gene flow". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 98: 63–73. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.11.022. PMID 26732490.
Flora Europaea: Pulmonaria
Flora of China: Pulmonaria
Bennett, M. (2003) Pulmonarias and the Borage Family. B.T.Batsford, 240pp. ISBN 0-7134-8732-1
Hewitt, J. (1994). Pulmonarias. Hardy Plant Society, 51pp. ISBN 0-901687-10-3