XERANTHEMUM L.IMMORTELLE

XERANTHEMUM L. - IMMORTELLE

Scientific Description:

White-tomentose annual herbs with branching stems. Leaves linear-elliptic, entire, sessile. Capitula heterogamous, disciform, solitary on ± naked branches. Involucre campanulate-ovoid or fusiform; phyllaries pluriseriate, scarious, imbricate, outer short and closely adpressed, inner often conspicuously longer, radiating and coloured. Receptacle paleaceous. Marginal flowers sterile, unequally 2-lipped; inner hermaphrodite, tubular, 5-lobed. Filaments free. Achenes oblong, attenuate below and truncate above, ± angular, somewhat compressed and ribbed, adpressed-pilose. Pappus of 5 or 10−15 aristate-attenuate scales.

Reference:
Kupicha FK (1975). Xeranthemum L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 5: 604.

Public Description:

Xeranthemum is a genus of tomentose annual herbs, known as “immortelle”, and is native to Southern Europe, southwestern and central Asia and Caucasus. There are 6 species in the world and 4 species (4 taxa) in Türkiye. It has silvery flower heads with purplish tubular flowers. The aerial parts of “Common immortelle (Xeranthemum annuum L.)” are a rich natural source of polyphenolic compounds with very good antioxidant and antimicrobial activity.

References:

Anonymous 1 (2016). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeranthemum, Accessed date: 02.02.2016.

Anonymous 2 (2016). http://www.theplantlist.org/1.1/browse/A/Compositae/Xeranthemum/, Accessed date: 02.02.2016.

Stankovic MS, Radojevic ID, Stefanovic OD, Topuzovic MD, Comic LR, Brankovic S (2011). Immortelle (Xeranthemum annuum L.) as a natural source of biologically active substances. EXCLI J.; 10: 230–239.

Hacıoğlu T N (2012). Xanthemum L. In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 216–217.