Scrophularia

The genus Scrophularia of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts.

Species of Scrophularia all share square stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped flowers forming clusters at the end of their stems.

The genus is found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, but concentrated in Asia with only a few species in Europe and North America.

Scrophularia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Phymatopus hectoides.

Some species in this genus are known to contain potentially useful substances, such as iridoids, and several Scrophularia species have been used in various traditional medicines around the world, such as the Ningpo figwort or Chinese figwort (S. ningpoensis).

The name Scrophularia comes from scrofula, a form of tuberculosis, because several species have been used to treat this disease.



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrophularia


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