{{Short description|Species of flowering plant in the family Nartheciaceae}} {{Redirect|Bog asphodel|other plants sometimes called bog asphodel|Narthecium americanum|and|Narthecium californicum}} {{Speciesbox |image = Rome_(3).jpg |genus = Narthecium |species = ossifragum |authority = (L.) Huds. }}
'''''Narthecium ossifragum''''', commonly known as '''bog asphodel''',<ref name=BSBI07>{{BSBI 2007 |access-date=2014-10-17}}</ref> '''Lancashire asphodel''' or '''bastard asphodel''',<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Narthecium|title=Pacific Bulb Society {{!}} Narthecium|website=pacificbulbsociety.org|access-date=2017-02-23}}</ref> is a species of flowering plant in the family Nartheciaceae. It is native to Western Europe, found on wet, boggy moorlands up to about {{convert|1000|m|ft|abbr=on}} in elevation. It produces spikes of bright yellow flowers in summer. The bright orange fruits have been used as a colourant to replace saffron by Shetland Islanders.<ref name="Richard Mabey Flora Britannica">Richard Mabey ''Flora Britannica''</ref> Despite the plant's English name "bog asphodel", it is not particularly closely related to the true asphodels. In addition to other forms of pollination, this plant is adapted to rain-pollination.<ref name=pollin/> The Latin specific name ''ossifragum'' means "bone-breaker", and refers to a traditional belief that eating the plant caused sheep to develop brittle bones. The probable origin of this story is that sheep eating a calcium-poor diet are likely to develop bone weakness, and ''N. ossifragum'' favours acidic low-calcium soils.<ref name="Richard Mabey Flora Britannica"/>
==Description== Bog asphodel is a tufted, hairless herbaceous perennial with a creeping rhizome. The leaves are up to {{convert|6|in|cm|0|abbr=on}} long, narrow, flattened and sword-shaped, and often tinged with orange. The inflorescence is a spike with bright yellow, star-like flowers about {{convert|0.7|in|mm|0|abbr=on}} across, which have short white hairs on the orange stamens. The fruits are deep orange.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McClintock |first1=David |last2=Fitter |first2=R.S.R. |year=1961 |title=The Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers |publisher=Collins |publication-place=London |page=201 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sterry |first=Paul |year=2006 |title=Complete British wild flowers |publisher=Collins |publication-place=London |isbn=978-0-00-720469-4 }}</ref>
==Biology== The plant can cause photosensitisation, a serious skin condition of sheep called ''alveld'', "elf fire", in Norway. It can be relieved by moving stock into the shade. Not all stands of the plant are toxic, and the toxicity may be the side effect of the plant's response to a fungal infection.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ab5pDQQD6YUC&dq=elf-fire+sheep&pg=PA197 Handbook of Plant and Fungal Toxicants] by J. P. Felix D'Mello</ref><ref>George B. B. Mitchell, 'Non-parasitic skin diseases of sheep' In Pract., Vol. 10, Issue 2, 69-73, March 1, 1988</ref><ref>Arne Flåøyen, 'Studies on the aetiology and pathology of alveld'</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== The Bog asphodel has a temperate oceanic distribution in northern and western Europe. In the British Isles it occurs in Scotland, Northwest England, Wales, Southwest England and most of Ireland. It grows in wet soils and peats, in bogs, wet heaths and flushes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/plant/narthecium-ossifragum |title=''Narthecium ossifragum'' |work=Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora |access-date=12 March 2020}}</ref> It can be found in purple moor grass and rush pastures.<ref name=":0" />
==Gallery== <gallery> Image:Rome_(3).jpg Image:Narthecium_ossifragum3.jpg Image:Narthecium ossifragum verblueht.jpg|Fruiting Image:Frucht Moorlilie.jpg|In fruit Image:Andorra - little brook.jpg|In situ near El Serrat, Andorra Image:Moorlilie_(Blume_des_Jahres_2011).JPG|High Fens, Belgium Image:Narthecium ossifragum Sturm41 clean.jpg|Illustration in Jakob Sturm: ''"Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen"'', Stuttgart (1796) Image:Narthecium ossifragum.png|Drawing by Elly Waterman </gallery>
==References== {{Commons}} {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=pollin>Hagerup, O. 1950. [http://www.royalacademy.dk/Publications/Low/195_Hagerup,%20O.pdf Rain-pollination.] I kommission hos E. Munksgaard. Retrieved 26 May 2018.</ref> }}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q159294}}
Category:Nartheciaceae Category:Flora of Europe Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus