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Asphodelus
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{{Short description|Flowering genus in family Asphodelaceae}} {{Italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox | taxon = Asphodelus | image = Asphodelus albus0.jpg | image_caption = White asphodel (''[[Asphodelus albus]]'') | authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]] | synonyms_ref=<ref name=m/> |synonyms=*''[[Asphodeloides]]'' <small>Moench</small> *''[[Clausonia]]'' <small>Pomel</small> *''[[Verinea]]'' <small>Pomel</small> *''[[Gethosyne]]'' <small>Salisb.</small> *''[[Ophioprason]]'' <small>Salisb.</small> *''[[Glyphosperma]]'' <small>S.Watson</small> }} [[File:Asphodelus ramosus7.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Asphodelus ramosus]]'']] '''''Asphodelus''''' is a genus of mainly [[perennial]] [[flowering plant]]s in the asphodel family [[Asphodelaceae]]<ref name=APG4>{{Cite journal |last=Angiosperm Phylogeny Group |year=2016 |title=An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=181 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.1111/boj.12385 |doi-access=free }}</ref> that was first described by [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1753. The genus was formerly included in the lily family ([[Liliaceae]]).<ref>Bailey, L.H. & E.Z. Bailey. 1976. Hortus Third i–xiv, 1–1290. MacMillan, New York.</ref> The genus is native to temperate [[Europe]] (mostly the south of Europe),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/asphodel_n?tl=true |title=asphodel |accessdate=11 July 2024 |publisher=Oxford English Dictionary }}</ref> the [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]], [[Africa]], the [[Middle East]], and the [[Indian Subcontinent]], and some species have been introduced to, and are now naturalized in, other places such as [[New Zealand]], [[Australia]], [[Mexico]] and southwestern [[United States]].<ref name=m>[https://powo.science.kew.org/results?q=Asphodelus Kew Plants of the World Online]</ref><ref>[http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/floraspecie.php?genere=Asphodelus Altervista Flora Italiana, genere Asphodelus] includes photos plus European distribution maps</ref> Many asphodels are popular garden plants, which grow in well-drained [[soil]]s with abundant natural light. ==Character== The plants are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow tufted radical leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike of white or yellow flowers. ''[[Asphodelus albus]]'' and ''[[Asphodelus fistulosus|A. fistulosus]]'' have white flowers and grow from {{convert|1+1/2|to(-)|2|ft|cm|round=5|order=flip}} high; ''[[Asphodelus ramosus|A. ramosus]]'' is a larger plant, the large white flowers of which have a reddish-brown line in the middle of each segment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=White asphodel {{!}} plant {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/plant/Asphodelus-albus |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> ==Etymology== The genus name is derived from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ἀσφόδελος ''asphodelos''.<ref>{{OEtymD|asphodel}}</ref><ref>{{LSJ|a)sfo/delos|ἀσφόδελος|ref}}.</ref> ==Species== There are 16 species in the genus.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/00173139609430497|title = Pollen morphology ofAsphodelusL. (Asphodelaceae): Taxonomic and phylogenetic inferences at the infrageneric level| journal=Grana| volume=35| pages=24–32|year = 1996|last1 = Lifante|first1 = Z. Díaz| issue=1 | bibcode=1996Grana..35...24L }}</ref> ; Species<ref name=m/> # ''[[Asphodelus acaulis]]'' <small>[[René Louiche Desfontaines|Desf.]]</small> – Branched asphodel – Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia # ''[[Asphodelus aestivus]]'' <small>[[Félix de Avelar Brotero|Brot.]]</small> – Summer asphodel, also known as Common asphodel and Silver rod – Western Mediterranean (mainly Portugal and Spain) # ''[[Asphodelus albus]]'' <small>Mill.</small> – White asphodel, also known as Rimmed lichen – Mediterranean # ''[[Asphodelus ayardii]]'' <small>[[Pierre Edmond Boissier|Jahand.]] & [[René Maire|Maire]]</small> – France, Spain, Italy, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Islands # ''[[Asphodelus bakeri]]'' <small>Breistr.</small> – Western Himalayas of northern India, northern Pakistan, etc. # ''[[Asphodelus bento-rainhae]]'' <small>[[António Rodrigo Pinto da Silva|P.Silva]]</small> – Spain, Portugal # ''[[Asphodelus cerasiferus]]'' <small>J.Gay</small> – France, Spain, Sardinia, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia # ''[[Asphodelus fistulosus]]'' <small>[[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]</small> – Onion-leaved asphodel, also known as Onionweed – Mediterranean (naturalized in New Zealand, Mexico, southwestern United States, etc.) # ''[[Asphodelus gracilis]]'' <small>Braun-Blanq. & Maire</small> – Morocco # ''[[Asphodelus lusitanicus]]'' <small>[[António Xavier Pereira Coutinho|Cout.]]</small> – Spain, Portugal # ''[[Asphodelus macrocarpus]]'' <small>Parl.</small> – Mediterranean # ''[[Asphodelus ramosus]]'' <small>[[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]</small> – Branched asphodel – southern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and Canary Islands # ''[[Asphodelus refractus]]'' <small>[[Pierre Edmond Boissier|Boiss.]]</small> – North Africa and Arabian Peninsula from Mauritania & Morocco to Saudi Arabia # ''[[Asphodelus roseus]]'' <small>[[Jean-Henri Humbert|Humbert]] & [[René Maire|Maire]]</small> – Spain, Morocco # ''[[Asphodelus serotinus]]'' <small>[[Anthony Hurt Wolley-Dod|Wolley-Dod]]</small> – Spain, Portugal # ''[[Asphodelus tenuifolius]]'' <small>Cav.</small> – Southeast Europe and northern Africa from the Mediterranean south to Mali, Chad, Sudan, Somalia; south-central Asia from Caucasus to India # ''[[Asphodelus viscidulus]]'' <small>[[Pierre Edmond Boissier|Boiss.]]</small> – North Africa, Middle East, Arabian Peninsula ; Formerly included * ''Asphodelus luteus'' <small> L.</small> – synonym of ''[[Asphodeline lutea]]'' ==Uses== The leaves{{clarify|reason=leaves of which species|date=April 2020}} are used to wrap [[burrata]], an Italian cheese. The leaves and the cheese last about the same time, three or four days, and thus fresh leaves are a sign of a fresh cheese, while dried out leaves indicate that the cheese is past its prime.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Independent]]|date=2 March 2011|title=Burrata: Britain's new Big cheese|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/burrata-britains-new-big-cheese-2229887.html|access-date=7 September 2013|last=Roberts|first=Genevieve}}</ref> ==Mythology== {{See also|Asphodel Meadows}} In [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] legend the asphodel is one of the most famous of the plants connected with the dead and the [[Hades|underworld]]. [[Homer]] describes it as covering the great meadow ({{lang|el|{{GreekFont|ἀσφόδελος λειμών}}}}), the haunt of the dead. It was planted on [[Grave (burial)|graves]], and is often connected with [[Persephone]], who appears crowned with a garland of asphodels. {{Citation needed|date=June 2019}} Its general connection with death is due no doubt to the greyish colour of its leaves and its yellowish flowers, which suggest the gloom of the underworld and the pallor of death. The roots were eaten by the poorer Greeks; hence such food was thought good enough for the shades.{{Citation needed|date=June 2019}} The asphodel was also supposed to be a remedy for venomous [[snake]]-bites and a specific against [[Magic (paranormal)|sorcery]]; it was fatal to mice, but preserved pigs from disease. The [[Libya]]n [[nomad]]s made their huts of asphodel stalks.{{Citation needed|date=June 2019}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |title=The Histories |date=2015 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-310754-5 |pages=Book 4 paragraph 190 |language=English}}</ref> ==Poetry== The asphodel is mentioned by several poets in connection with the mythology of death, and by association, the afterlife - specifically the [[Fortunate Isles|Isles of the Blessed]] and [[Elysium]] - part of the ancient Greek concept of the afterlife. :* [[Conrad Aiken]]: "Snowflake on asphodel—how clear, how bright / Snow's death on dying flower, yet both immortal" :* [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]]: "As one who stands in dewless asphodel, Looks backward on the tedious time he had In the upper life." :* [[Florence Earle Coates]]: "beauty wove a magic spell/ For him, and early, at his need,/ Upon a bed of asphodel/ He found a tuneful reed" in poem "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow" :* [[Leonard Cohen]]: "But in his lapel, discreetly, he wore a sprig of asphodel." :* [[William Faulkner]]: "There asphodels are scattered through the night, Like ghosts of young beseeching hands." ONE WHO WAS LEFT LIVING, CHANSONS AU PRINTEMPS, handwritten with drawings, 1919, W. Faulkner, RFC :* [[Robert Frost]]: “And where they sought without the sword/ Wide fields of asphodel fore’er” The Trial by Existence, A Boy’s Will :* [[Allen Ginsberg]]: "An Asphodel" :* [[Hesiod]]: "Children! They know not how much more the half is than the whole, nor how great is the profit in mallow and asphodel."<ref>Hes.Works and Days.40-41.</ref> :* [[Homer]]: "So I said and off he went, the ghost of the great runner, Aeacus’ grandson loping with long strides across the fields of asphodel, triumphant in all I had told him of his son, his gallant, glorious son."<ref>The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagels</ref> :* [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]]: "He, who wore the crown of asphodels, Descending, at my door began to knock."<ref>{{cite book|title=Shorter Oxford English dictionary, 6th ed.|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-0199206872|page=3804}}</ref> :* [[John Milton]]: "To embathe In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel." :* [[Edgar Allan Poe]]: "and when, one by one, the white daisies shrank away, there sprang up in place of them, ten by ten of the ruby-red asphodel" :* [[Alexander Pope]]: "Happy Souls who dwell In Yellow Meads of Asphodel, Or [[Amaranth]]ine Bowers." :* [[Ezra Pound]], "Canto XXI": "Danced there Athame, danced, and there Phaethusa/ With colour in the vein,/ Strong as with blood drink, once,/ With colour in the vein/ Red in the smoke-faint throat. Dis caught her up./ And the old man went on there/ beating his mule with an asphodel." :* [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Alfred Tennyson]]: "Others in Elysian valleys dwell, Resting weary limbs at last on beds of asphodel." :* Orville E. Watson: "see a river like Kokosing, in meadows sweet with asphodel" :* [[William Carlos Williams]]: "Asphodel, that greeny flower" :* [[Marie Laforêt]]: "Je t'ai donné mes bouquets d'asphodèles :* [[Oscar Wilde]]: "The heavy fields of scentless Asphodel, the loveless lips with which men kiss in hell"; "they sleep, they sleep, beneath the rocking trees where asphodel and yellow lotus twine" :* [[Dani Filth]]: "When the Sun goes out our powers/ Will extend throughout Heaven like Asphodel" :* [[Virginia Woolf]]: " But some were early infected by a germ said to be bred of the pollen of the asphodel" (describing the love of literature in [[Orlando: A Biography|Orlando]]) ==Notes== {{Reflist}} ==References== * {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Asphodel}} ==External links== *{{Commons-inline}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q382873}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Asphodelaceae genera]] [[Category:Asphodelus| ]] [[Category:Garden plants]]
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