Paris quadrifolia
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Paris quadrifolia, the herb Paris<ref name=BSBI07>Template:BSBI 2007</ref> or true lover's knot, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It occurs in temperate and cool areas throughout Eurasia, from Spain to Yakutia, and from Iceland to Mongolia.<ref name="WCSP 283886" /> It prefers calcareous soils and lives in damp and shady places, especially old established woods and stream banks.
P. quadrifolia is in decline in Europe due to loss of habitat.<ref name="POWO 539724-1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In Iceland, for example, it is on the red list.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
DescriptionEdit
P. quadrifolia is a perennial herbaceous plant that is Template:Convert tall. It may have 3–8 leaves but typically there are four leaves arranged as opposing pairs. The flowers are wispy and inconspicuous.<ref name="POWO 539724-1" /><ref name="FOC 200027829">Template:EFloras</ref>
The plant flowers during the months of June and July.<ref>Altervista Flora Italiana, Uva di volpe Paris quadrifolia L.</ref> It has a solitary flower with four narrow greenish filiform (threadlike) petals, four green petaloid sepals, eight golden yellow stamens, and a round purple to red ovary. The flower is borne above a single whorl of four leaves.
Each plant produces at most one blueberry-like berry, which is poisonous, because it contains solanine, as are other plant tissues.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Poisonings are rare because the plant's solitary berry has a repulsive taste that makes it difficult to mistake for a bilberry.
TaxonomyEdit
It was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.<ref name = "Linnaeus, 1753">Linné, Carl von, & Salvius, Lars. (1753). Caroli Linnaei ... Species plantarum :exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas... (Vol. 1, p. 367). Impensis Laurentii Salvii. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358386</ref><ref name="POWO 539724-1" />
EtymologyEdit
The specific epithet quadrifolia means four-leaved.<ref name = "Spektrum">Spektrum der Wissenschaft. (2013, September 16). Paris quadrifolia. Lexikon Der Arzneipflanzen Und Drogen. Retrieved May 19, 2025, from https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/arzneipflanzen-drogen/paris-quadrifolia/10783</ref>
ConservationEdit
It is categorised as a species of Least Concern (LC) according to the IUCN red list.<ref name = "Chadburn, 2014" />
GalleryEdit
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- Paris quadrifolia in Little Sorn burnside.jpg
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- Paris quadrifolia fruit - Keila.jpg
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- Little Sorn and Cessnock Water.JPG
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