Descurainia sophia

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Speciesbox |image = Descurainia sophia eF.jpg |genus = Descurainia |species = sophia |authority = (L.) Webb ex Prantl<ref name = TPL/> |synonyms = ''Sisymbrium sophia'' <small>L.</small> }}

'''''Descurainia sophia''''' is a species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae.<ref name = TPL>{{ThePlantList | id =kew-2761851 | taxon = Descurainia sophia| authority =(L.) Webb ex Prantl | accessdate = 12 November 2014}}</ref> Common names include '''flixweed''', '''herb-Sophia''' and '''tansy mustard'''.<ref name=GRIN>{{GRIN | name =''Descurainia sophia'' | id =13568 | accessdate = 12 November 2014}}</ref> It is an annual plant that reproduces by seeds. It is a dominant weed in dark brown prairie and black prairie soils of southern Alberta.<ref>http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/soil/survey-reports/ab11/ab11_report.pdf Wyatt, Newton, Bowser and Odynsky, 1942. Soil Survey of Blackfoot and Calgary Sheets</ref> Its stem is erect, branched, and {{convert|4-30|in|cm|abbr=on}} high.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.co.larimer.co.us/weeds/30weeds/flixweed.htm |title=Flixweed |access-date=2007-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927203807/http://www.co.larimer.co.us/weeds/30weeds/flixweed.htm |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was once given to patients with dysentery and called by ancient herbalists ''Sophia Chirurgorum'', "The Wisdom of Surgeons".<ref>[http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mustar65.html botanical.com - A Modern Herbal | Mustards]</ref> It is the type species of the genus ''Descurainia'' (named for French botanist and herbalist François Descurain (1658–1749)) and of the rejected genus ''Sophia'' Adans.<ref>[http://botany.si.edu/ing/ Index Nominum Genericorum]</ref><ref>[http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40028497 Tropicos]</ref>

==Description== ''Descurainia sophia'' is an annual plant. It will sprout and grow in the fall and spends winter as a rosette. Growth resumes in the spring and plants flower by late spring.<ref> {{Cite journal |last1=Mokhtassi-Bidgoli |first1=Ali |last2=AghaAlikhani |first2=Majid |last3=Eyni-Nargeseh |first3=Hamed |date=March 2022 |title=Effects of Nitrogen and Water on Nutrient Uptake, Oil Productivity, and Composition of Descurainia sophia |journal=Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition |language=en |volume=22 |issue=1 |page=59 |doi=10.1007/s42729-021-00633-7}}</ref>

==Culinary use== In Iran, the seeds are called ''khak-e shir'' (''khakshir''), and khak-e shir drinks are traditionally favored as thirst quencher during hot summer days.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Amiri|first1=Mohammad Sadegh|last2=Joharchi|first2=Mohammad Reza|date=2013|title=Ethnobotanical investigation of traditional medicinal plants commercialized in the markets of Mashhad, Iran|journal=Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine|volume=3|issue=3|pages=254–271|issn=2228-7930|pmc=4075713|pmid=25050282}}</ref> Khakshir is also considered a medicinal substance in traditional Iranian medicine, consumed in varying combinations with other herbs and substances to gain effects ranging from antidiuretic to aphrodisiac.

China has a tradition of eating this plant, and its eating method is recorded in the ''Jiuhuang Bencao'' (Book of Famine Relief Herbals).

==Cultural== In German, it is called the ''Sophienkraut'' and associated with Saint Sophia of Rome, who was invoked against late frosts.<ref>{{BBKL|s/sophia_v_r|band=10|autor=Ekkart Sauser|artikel=Sophia von Rom|spalten=807-808}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

sophia Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Category:Flora of Malta