Stellera

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{distinguish|Stelara}} {{Speciesbox |image = Stellera chamaejasme 2.jpg |display_parents = 2 |genus = Stellera |parent_authority = L.<ref name=IPNI_39323-1/> |species = chamaejasme |authority = L.<ref name=TPL_Stellera/> | synonyms = {{Collapsible list |title = Synonyms list | *''Chamaejasme'' {{small|Kuntze (1891)}} *''Xaiasme'' {{small|Raf. (1838)}} *''Chamaejasme stelleriana'' {{small|Kuntze (1891)}} *''Daphne meisneriana'' {{small|Halda (1999)}} *''Passerina chamaejasme'' {{small|Fisch. ex Meisn. (1857)}} *''Passerina dichotoma'' {{small|Steud. (1841), not validly publ.}} *''Passerina stelleri'' {{small|Wikstr. (1818)}} *''Stellera bodinieri'' {{small|H.Lév. (1912)}} *''Stellera chamaejasme'' f. ''angustifolia'' {{small|Diels (1912), opus utique oppr.}} *''Stellera chamaejasme'' subsp. ''angustifolia'' {{small|(Diels) Kit Tan (1982)}} *''Stellera chamaejasme'' f. ''chrysantha'' {{small|S.C.Huang (1985)}} *''Stellera concinna'' {{small|Edgew. (1846)}} *''Stellera dichotoma'' {{small|Fisch. ex Sweet (1839), not validly publ.}} *''Stellera himalayensis'' {{small|Gand. (1913)}} *''Stellera hypericifolia'' {{small|Endl. (1848)}} *''Stellera rosea'' {{small|Nakai (1920)}} *''Wikstroemia canescens'' {{small|Maxim. (1886), nom. illeg.}} *''Wikstroemia chamaejasme'' {{small|(L.) Domke (1932)}} *''Wikstroemia chinensis'' {{small|Meisn. (1857)}} *''Wikstroemia hypericifolia'' {{small|Meisn. (1841)}} *''Wikstroemia rosea'' {{small|(Nakai) Domke (1932)}} *''Wikstroemia salicifolia'' {{small|Decne. (1844)}} *''Xaiasme bicolor'' {{small|Raf. (1838)}} }} |synonyms_ref = <ref name=powo>{{cite web |title=''Stellera chamaejasme'' L. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:832760-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=16 September 2024}}</ref> }} '''''Stellera''''' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae, with a single species '''''Stellera chamaejasme'''''<ref name=TPL_Stellera/> found in mountainous regions of Central Asia, China, Korea, Siberia and South Asia. ''S. chamaejasme'' is a herbaceous perennial plant with heads of white, pink or yellow flowers, grown as an ornamental plant in rock gardens and alpine houses, but considered a weed playing a role in the desertification of grasslands in parts of its native range. Like many others of its family, it is a poisonous plant with medicinal and other useful properties.

==Common names== Two common names recorded for the plant in Mongolian are одои далан туруу (''odoi dalan turuu'') and чонын Чолбодос (''choniin cholbodos'') - incomplete translation: ''choniin'' "of the wolf" + ''cholbodos'' [=?, possibly "poison"]. A common name for the plant in Tibetan is ''rejag''.<ref name= "Medicinal Mongolia">Medicinal Plants in Mongolia pub. World Health Organization, Regional Office for the Western Pacific Region 2013 {{ISBN|978-92-9061-632-0}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20180428182720/http://www.wpro.who.int/publications/Medicinal_Plants_in_Mongolia_VF.pdf]</ref>

==Description== ''Stellera chamaejasme'' is a herbaceous perennial. Unbranched stems, 20–30 cm tall, emerge in a cluster from an underground rhizome. Narrow, overlapping leaves are borne along the stems. Individual leaves are narrow and pointed, up to 2 cm long. The flowers are grouped into rounded tightly packed terminal heads. Flowers lack petals, instead having petaloid sepals forming a tube up to 1.5 cm long with usually five (but possibly four or six) short lobes. The flower colour varies from shades of pink and white to yellow. There are twice as many stamens as calyx lobes, in two series. The ovary has a single chamber (locule). The fruit is a dry drupe, enclosed by the remains of the calyx.<ref name=Beck94/><ref name=FoC_S/>

==Taxonomy== [[File:Pink jasmine bush.jpg|thumb|''Jasminum polyanthum'' in bloom, showing wine-red exteriors of corollas reminiscent of those of ''Stellera'' (re. species name ''chamaejasme'' i.e. "ground jasmine").]] The genus ''Stellera'' was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.<ref name=IPNI_39323-1/> He recognized two species: ''Stellera passerina'' (now placed in the genus ''Thymelaea'' as ''T. passerina'') and ''Stellera chamaejasme''.<ref name=Linn53/> The generic name ''Stellera'' (not to be confused with the entirely unrelated ''Stellaria'') commemorates Georg Wilhelm Steller (Stöller), while the specific epithet ''chamaejasme'' is a rendering into botanical Latin orthography of the Greek χαμαί ''khamai'' "(down) on the ground" and ιασμε ''iasme'' "jasmine". The name in its entirety thus means "Steller's plant that resembles a kind of jasmine (that creeps) on the ground". The flower of ''Stellera chamaejasme'' is fragrant like that of jasmine and also has a wine-red exterior, like that of certain species of jasmine, e.g. common jasmine ''Jasminum officinale'' and the Chinese species ''Jasminum polyanthum''. Unlike jasmine, however, ''Stellera'' is a herbaceous plant, not a woody one, and its stems do not twine.

Many species names were later created in the genus, but all are now usually considered synonyms of other species, including ''S. chamaejasme'',<ref name=TPL_Stellera/> although the ''Flora of China'' states that there are 10 to 12 species.<ref name=FoC_S/> Studies in 2002 and 2009, based on chloroplast DNA, placed ''Stellera'' in a small group of related genera, either as sister to ''Wikstroemia'' or embedded within it; however for most genera only one species was included.<ref name=BankFayChas02/><ref name=BeauEdwaMannMaur09/>

{{clade|style=line-height:100% |1={{clade |1=''Edgeworthia'' |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Wikstroemia'' |2=''Stellera'' }} |2={{clade |1=''Diarthron'' |2={{clade |1=''Thymelaea'' |2=''Daphne'' }} }} }} }} }}

==Distribution and habitat== ''Stellera chamaejasme'' is native to northern and western Tibet, the Himalayas (Nepal, Bhutan), the state of Uttar Pradesh in north India, Russia and Mongolia.<ref name=Beck94/><ref name=FoC_Sc/> In China, it is found on sunny dry slopes and sandy places between 2600 and 4200 m.<ref name=FoC_Sc/>

==Cultivation== ''Stellera chamaejasme'' is cultivated as an ornamental plant in rock gardens and alpine houses. It is considered difficult to grow, needing a sunny position and gritty soil if grown outside, or a large pot if grown under cover. It is propagated by seed.<ref name=Beck94/>

==Toxicity== [[File:Chamaejasme.jpg|thumb|Compared and contrasted: roots of (fancied) human-like form of A: ''Stellera chamaejasme'' and B: ''Mandragora officinarum'', the fabled ''Mandrake''. Note also (centre) crown of ''Stellera'', shown bearing a single, herbaceous flowering shoot.]] [[File:Stellera chamaejasme blossoming, Longxi, Gansu, China.JPG|thumb|''Stellera chamaejasme'' (in bud) growing in Gansu province, Western China, where it has the common name of ''Langdu'' (狼毒花) "wolf poison" - probably because it was formerly employed as such.]] <blockquote>The Russians living in Dauria still hold Stellera in high esteem on account of its root, despite the fact that its violent effects have already dispatched a good many people to the afterlife. This root resembles a crudely-carved human figure to a degree even greater than that of the [famous] ''Alraune'' or Mandragora, such that one can often distinguish clearly in its natural form [protuberances resembling] a head, arms and legs; which has led to its being given the most apposite name of ''Muzhik koren'' [Мужик корен] or "Man root" by the Russians. The oldest rootstocks of this plant can reach the size of a large carrot, and [if taken as medicine] produce the most violent effects. Such old roots can produce more than fifty - and sometimes as many as a hundred - flowering shoots, which, crowned with their beautiful and fragrant flowers, give not the least hint of the violent and pernicious effects residing in the root that bore them. The exterior of the flower is usually of a dark reddish-purple, or, more rarely sulphur-yellow colour; while the interior is white. Add to this the fact that the flowers display, upon opening, a white border and in the middle a red or yellow patch, and the flowers present the most ravishing aspect. The young Tungus boys are in the habit of adorning their bare heads with a kind of hat which they create most artistically by interweaving whole flowering stems of the plant. On this plant one often finds a flower in which two normal flowers seem fused into one, bearing a corolla with nine lobes and eighteen stamens arranged in two rows. [Translated from the French of a text closely based on the account of Prussian naturalist and explorer Peter Simon Pallas ].<ref>[Author anonymous] Histoire des Decouvertes faites par divers savans voyageurs dans plusieurs contrées de la Russie & de la Perse, relativement à l'Histoire civile & naturelle à l'Économie rurale, au commerce &c. pub. Aberne, chez François Seizer et Comp., Tôme V, 1787 page 499. Reissued by Nabu Public Domain Reprints, U.S.A.{{verify source|date=April 2020}}</ref></blockquote> The plant is virulently poisonous and has caused fatalities both in humans and in livestock. The powdered roots have been used as a laxative,<ref>http://banyamoya.ru/lekarstvennye-rasteniya/352-slabitelnye-chast-2.html Retrieved 14.10 on Thursday 30/4/20.</ref> as a pesticide and as a fish poison, and have also been used in small doses as a drastic anthelmintic for sheep and goats.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Quattrocchi |first1=Umberto |title=CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: R-Z |date=2012 |publisher=CRC |isbn=978-1-4398-9570-2 |page=395 }}</ref> The plant is common in Western China, where it goes by the common name of ''Langdu'' (狼毒花) lit. "wolf poison" (狼 ''lang'' "wolf" + 毒 ''dú'' "poison" + 花 ''huā'' "flower"). It is used as a medicinal herb in China, but can be considered an undesirable element in the flora if it should proliferate to too great an extent, as its large, water-thirsty roots speed up the desertification of prairies.<ref>Flora of China Online http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200014523 Retrieved 13.43 on Thursday 30/4/20.</ref> A work on native Chinese medicinal plants aimed at farmers states that ''Stellera'' is a very poisonous plant used as an insecticide and that, if consumed by an animal, will cause the victim's intestines to disintegrate.<ref>''Chung kuo t'u nung yao chih'' - ''A Chinese native medicinal flora for farmers'', preface by Kuo Mo-j'o, Director, Acad. Sinica and compiled by a committee (gives brief account of medicinal use of each plant and fuller account of insecticidal properties) pub. Beijing, 1959.</ref>

Corroboration of this evidence for the damaging effect upon animal intestines of the consumption of certain plants belonging to the Thymelaceae may be found in an account of "Lasiosiphon kraussianus Hutch. & Dalz. " (referable, possibly to ''Lasiosiphon kraussianus'' (Meisn.) Meisn. or a ''Gnidia'' sp.) of South Africa: the plant is exceedingly poisonous and rapidly fatal to stock: the intestines of an animal perforate about a day after eating it. This lethal property is put to use by certain African tribes who use the powdered root of the plant to poison waterholes during the rainy season, the poison remaining potent for seven days and killing any animal which drinks it.<ref>''Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa'' 2nd edition, Watt J.M.& Breyer-Brandwijk M.G. pub.E.&S.Livingstone Ltd. 1962 page 1024-5.</ref>

The plant family to which ''Stellera'' belongs - Thymelaceae - is notable for the number of poisonous species which it contains and also for a certain similarity in chemistry to the family Euphorbiaceae, both families having a number of genera producing phorbol esters.<ref>Wink, Michael and van Wyk, Ben-Erik, ''Mind-Altering and Poisonous Plants of the World, A Scientifically Accurate Guide to 1200 Toxic and Intoxicating Plants'', pub. Timber Press Inc. 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-88192-952-2}}, pps. 320-21: Section "Diterpenes", subsection "Phorbol Esters".</ref><ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 17661218| year = 2007| last1 = Goel| first1 = G| title = Phorbol esters: Structure, biological activity, and toxicity in animals| journal = International Journal of Toxicology| volume = 26| issue = 4| pages = 279–88| last2 = Makkar| first2 = H. P.| last3 = Francis| first3 = G| last4 = Becker| first4 = K| doi = 10.1080/10915810701464641| citeseerx = 10.1.1.320.6537| s2cid = 11550625}}</ref> It is interesting to note, in this context, that Chinese herbal medicine recognises a similarity in action between ''Stellera'' and certain ''Euphorbia'' species: Perry (1980)<ref>Perry, Lily M. assisted by Metzger, Judith Medicinal Plants of East and Southeast Asia, pub. The MIT Press 1980 {{ISBN|0 262 16076 5}}, page 144.</ref> notes that, in a Chinese materia medica of 1959,<ref>''Chung yao chih'' [''New Chinese Materia Medica''] pub. Beijing 1959 vol. 1: Roots( being a project undertaken by the following institutions: Pharmaceut. Inst. Acad. Med., Peking; Bot. Gard., Acad. Sinica, Nanking; Peking Med. Col., Dept. Pharmacy; Tientsin Drug Supply House; Peking Coll. Chinese Medicine; Peking Drug Supply House. Preface by C.E. Wang. Translated by Mr. T.S. Wei.</ref> ''Stellera'', ''Euphorbia fischeriana'' Steud. (syn. E. pallasii Turcz.) and ''Euphorbia sieboldiana'' Morr. & Decne. are listed under the same heading (no. 86, ''langdu'') - and as possessing the same or very similar medicinal properties: pungent, poisonous plants used as cathartics, anthelmintics, expectorants, also used topically to treat ulcers and skin diseases.

==Chemistry and properties== The principal constituents of ''Stellera chamaejasme'' include, among others, flavonoids, coumarins, lignans and diterpenoids. A recent work on the medicinal plants of Mongolia <ref name= "Medicinal Mongolia"/> notes the presence in the root (rhizome) of sugars, organic acids, saponins and tannins and the following specific compounds: the flavonoids 5,7-dihydroxy-4',11-dimethoxy-3',14-dimethylbenzoflavanone, ruixianglangdusu A and B, 4',4'",5,5",7,7"-hexahydroxy-3,3"-biflavone, 7-methoxyneochamaejasmin A; the coumarins: sfondine, isobergapten, pimpinellin, isopimpinellin, umbelliferone, daphniretin, bicoumastechamin and daphnetin; diterpenes (unspecified); the lignans: (+)-kusunokinin, lirioresinol-B, magnolenin C, (-)-pinoresinol monomethyl ether, (-)-pinoresinol, (+)-matairesinol, isohinokinin, and (-)-eudesmin; and the steroids: daucosterol, β-sitosterol. Above-ground parts of the plant were found to contain the coumarins: daphnorin, daphnetin, daphnoretin, daphnetin 8-O-b-D-glycopyranoside and chamaejasmoside.<ref name= "Medicinal Mongolia"/>

A scientific paper of 2015 refers to this plant - regarded as a choice and hard-to-grow ornamental by European and American gardeners - as being one of the most toxic of grassland weeds in the range where it is native and notes that cattle which consume its shoots and flowers may be fatally poisoned. The paper notes further that populations of the plant are in no way endangered, having been flourishing and increasing for some years: this appears to be due not simply to the plant's competing vigorously with other species for water and nutrients, but also to its containing / secreting herbicidal compounds.Water and ethanol extracts of S. chamaejasme inhibited seed germination and/or seedling growth in no fewer than 13 plant species, and the phytotoxic effects were stronger upon dicotyledonous plants than upon monocotyledonous plants. The phytotoxic compounds were observed to be liberated particularly by dead or moribund specimens of ''S. chamaejasme'' and to lead to reduced seedling growth in the grasses ''Lolium perenne'' L., ''Psathyrostachys juncea'' (Fisch.) Nevski and ''Bromus inermis'' Leyss. and the legumes ''Melilotus suaveolens'' Ledeb. (see ''Melilotus''), ''Onobrychis viciifolia'' Scop. (sainfoin) and ''Medicago sativa'' L. (alfalfa). Furthermore, pesticidal properties were confirmed to be present in ''S. chameajasme'': the ethanolic extract of S. chameajasme strongly inhibited the growth of the following insect pests: the butterfly ''Pieris rapae'', the aphid ''Myzus persicae'' and the corn-borer moth ''Ostrinia furnacalis'', and showed contact and oral toxicities against two other stem-borer moths which are pests of rice: ''Sesamia inferens'' and ''Chilo suppressalis''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yan |first1=Zhiqiang |last2=Zeng |first2=Liming |last3=Jin |first3=Hui |last4=Qin |first4=Bo |title=Potential ecological roles of flavonoids from Stellera chamaejasme |journal=Plant Signaling & Behavior |date=7 April 2015 |volume=10 |issue=3 |article-number=e1001225 |doi=10.1080/15592324.2014.1001225 |pmid=25848835 |pmc=4622577 |bibcode=2015PlSiB..10E1225Y }}</ref>

==Papermaking== In Tibet, the thick, fibrous root of ''Stellera'' is harvested, cooked, and beaten for making paper.<ref name=Huett2020/>

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=BankFayChas02>{{Citation |last1=van der Bank |first1=Michelle |last2=Fay |first2=Michael F. |last3=Chase |first3=Mark W. |date=2002 |title=Molecular Phylogenetics of Thymelaeaceae with particular reference to African and Australian genera |journal=Taxon |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=329–339 |jstor=1554930 |name-list-style=amp |doi=10.2307/1554901 }}</ref>

<ref name=BeauEdwaMannMaur09>{{Citation |last1=Beaumont |first1=Angela J. |last2=Edwards |first2=Trevor J. |last3=Manning |first3=John |last4=Maurin |first4=Olivier |last5=Rautenbach |first5=Marline |last6=Motsi |first6=Moleboheng C. |last7=Fay |first7=Michael F. |last8=Chase |first8=Mark W. |last9=Van Der Bank |first9=Michelle |date=2009 |title=Gnidia (Thymelaeaceae) is not monophyletic: taxonomic implications for Thymelaeoideae and a partial new generic taxonomy for ''Gnidia'' |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=160 |issue=4 |pages=402–417 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00988.x |name-list-style=amp |doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=Beck94>{{Citation |year=1994 |editor-last=Beckett |editor-first=K. |title=Encyclopaedia of Alpines: Volume 2 (L–Z) |contribution=Stellera |page=1285 |location=Pershore, UK |publisher=AGS Publications |isbn=978-0-900048-62-3 }}</ref>

<ref name=FoC_S>{{citation |first1=Yinzheng |last1=Wang |first2=Michael G. |last2=Gilbert |contribution=Stellaria |contribution-url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=131303 |access-date=2017-11-26 |editor-last=Wu |editor-first=Zhengyi |editor2-last=Raven |editor2-first=Peter H. |editor3-last=Hong |editor3-first=Deyuan  |title=Flora of China ''(online)'' |publisher=eFloras.org |url=http://www.efloras.org/flora_page.aspx?flora_id=2 |name-list-style=amp }}</ref>

<ref name=FoC_Sc>{{citation |first1=Yinzheng |last1=Wang |first2=Michael G. |last2=Gilbert |contribution=Stellaria chamaejasme |contribution-url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200014523 |access-date=2017-11-26 |editor-last=Wu |editor-first=Zhengyi |editor2-last=Raven |editor2-first=Peter H. |editor3-last=Hong |editor3-first=Deyuan  |title=Flora of China ''(online)'' |publisher=eFloras.org |url=http://www.efloras.org/flora_page.aspx?flora_id=2 |name-list-style=amp }}</ref>

<ref name=IPNI_39323-1>{{citation |title=Plant Name Details for ''Stellera'' L. |work=The International Plant Names Index |url=http://www.ipni.org/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=39323-1 |access-date=2017-11-26 }}</ref>

<ref name=Linn53>{{Citation |last1=Linnaeus |first1=Carl |date=1753 |contribution=Stellera |title=Species Plantarum |volume=1 |page=559 |location=Stockholm, Sweden |publisher=Laurentius Salvius |language=Latin |contribution-url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358577 |access-date=2017-11-26}}</ref>

<ref name=TPL_Stellera>{{citation |title=Search results for ''Stellera''|work=The Plant List |url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Stellera |access-date=2017-11-26 }}</ref>

<ref name=Huett2020>{{Citation |last1=Huett |first1=Bruce |date=2020 |title=The revival of Himalayan papermaking: historical, socio-cultural and economic aspects. |journal=Z Badań nad Książką i Księgozbiorami Historycznymi |volume=3 |pages=427–450 }}</ref> }}

Category:Thymelaeoideae Category:Thymelaeaceae genera Category:Monotypic Malvales genera Category:Medicinal plants of Asia Category:Garden plants of Asia Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus