{{Short description|Genus of plants}} {{Redirect|Snapdragon}} {{Distinguish|Anthurium}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{fossil range |5|0}} Recent | image = Antirrhinum majus BCBG (02).jpg | image_caption = ''Antirrhinum majus'' | taxon = Antirrhinum | authority = L. | type_species = ''Antirrhinum majus'' | type_species_authority = L. | subdivision_ranks = Sections | subdivision = * ''Antirrhinum'' * ''Orontium'' * ''Saerorhinum'' }}
'''''Antirrhinum''''' is a genus of plants in the Plantaginaceae family, commonly known as '''dragon flowers''' or '''snapdragons''' because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are also sometimes called '''toadflax'''<ref name="toadflaxes"/> or '''dog flower'''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Antirrhinum majus - Dog Flower|url=http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Dog%20Flower.html|access-date=2022-02-20|website=www.flowersofindia.net}}</ref> They are native to rocky areas of Europe, the United States, Canada, and North Africa. ''Antirrhinum'' species are widely used as ornamental plants in borders and as cut flowers.<ref>{{cite book|title=RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants|year=2008|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1405332965|pages=1136}}</ref>
== Description == The ''Antirrhinum'' is morphologically diverse, particularly the New World group (''Saerorhinum'').<ref name=Oyama/> The genus is characterized by personate flowers with an inferior gibbous corolla.{{clarification needed|reason=obscure technical language|date=July 2024}}
== Taxonomy == ''Antirrhinum'' used to be treated within the family Scrophulariaceae, but studies of DNA sequences have led to its inclusion in a vastly enlarged family Plantaginaceae, within the tribe Antirrhineae.
=== Circumscription === The taxonomy of this genus is complex and not yet fully resolved at present. In particular the exact circumscription of the genus, especially the inclusion of the New World species (''Saerorhinum''), is contentious.<ref name=Oyama/> The situation is further complicated by the variety of terms in use for infrageneric ranks, especially of the Old World species, that is ''Antirrhinum'', ''sensu stricto'' (e.g. Streptosepalum, Kicksiella, Meonantha).
The USDA Plants Database recognises only two species: ''A. majus'' (the garden snapdragon), the only species naturalised in North America, and ''A. bellidifolium'' (the lilac snapdragon), now considered to be ''Anarrhinum bellidifolium'' (L.) Willd.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile?symbol=ANTIR2|title=Plants Profile for Anarrhinum (snapdragon)|website=plants.usda.gov|access-date=May 30, 2020}}</ref> There are 23 accepted species.<ref name=POWO>{{cite web |work=Plants of the World Online |title=''Antirrhinum'' L. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:37430-1 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=3 July 2024 }}</ref>
A widely accepted scheme (Thompson 1988) placed 36 species in the genus in three sections. While many botanists accepted this broad circumscription (''sensu lato''), whose main departure from other classifications was the inclusion of the New World Saerorhinum,<ref name=Thompson/> others did not, restricting the genus to the Old World. (For a comparison of Thompson with earlier systems, see Oyama and Baum, Table 1.) New species also continue to be discovered (see e.g. Romo ''et al.'', 1995).
In 2004, research into the molecular systematics of this group and related species by Oyama and Baum confirmed that the genus ''sensu lato'' as described by Thompson is monophyletic, provided that one species (''A. cyathiferum'') is removed to the separate genus ''Pseudorontium'', and the two species of ''Mohavea'' (''Mohavea confertiflora'' and ''M. breviflora'') are included. The species list given here follows these conclusions.<ref name=Oyama/>
This is the broad circumscription that includes the Old World'' Misopates'' and New World ''Sairocarpus''. By contrast the narrow circumscription (''sensu stricto'') confines the genus to the monophyletic Old World perennial species with a diploid chromosome number of 16, distributed in the Mediterranean basin, approximately 25 species,<ref name="Tolety-2011" /> following the phylogenetic analysis of Vargas ''et al.'' (2004) suggesting they are a distinct group. Both ''Misopates'' and ''Sairocarpus'' are accepted names in ''The Plant List'', and many of the New World species now have ''Sairocarpus'' as their accepted name, rather than ''Antirrhinum''. It has been proposed that many of the New World ''Antirrhinum'' be now considered under ''Sairocarpus'', in the forthcoming ''Flora of North America''.<ref name=Barringer/>
=== Infrageneric subdivision === It is widely agreed that this broad group should be subdivided into three or four subgroups, but the level at which this should be done, and exactly which species should be grouped together, remain unclear. Some authors continue to follow Thompson in using a large genus ''Antirrhinum'', which is then divided into several sections; others treat Thompson's genus as a tribe or subtribe, and divide it into several genera. For a comparison of earlier schemes see Mateu-Andrés and de Paco, Table 1 (2005)<ref name=Mateu/>
If the broad circumscription is accepted, its three sections as described by Thompson are as follows (two Old World, one New):
*Section ''Antirrhinum'': 19 Old World species of relatively large flowered perennial plants, including the type species ''Antirrhinum majus'', mostly native to the western Mediterranean region with a focus on the Iberian Peninsula. Chromosomes number=8. (3 subsections: ''Majora'', ''Sicula'', ''Hispanica'') *Section ''Orontium'': two species, also from the Mediterranean. Chromosome n=8. The species in this section, including the section type species ''Antirrhinum orontium'' (lesser snapdragon) are often treated in the genus ''Misopates''. *Section ''Saerorhinum'': 15 small flowered New World species, mostly annual plants and mostly native to California, though species are found from Oregon to Baja California Sur and as far east as Utah. Tetraploid (n=15-16). Like other authors, Thompson placed ''A. cyathiferum'' in this section, but Oyama and Baum, following earlier authors, suggest that it should be reclassified in genus ''Pseudorontium'', while ''Mohavea'' should be included. Vargas ''et al.'', strongly recommending segregation of the New World species suggest that the 14 species originally recognised by Sutton (1988) more properly belong to ''Sairocarpus'' (11 species), ''Howelliella'' (1 species), and ''Neogarrhinum'' (2 species). Other authors would also include ''Galvezia glabrata'', ''Galvezia juncea'', ''Galvezia rupicola'' and ''Galvezia speciosa''.<ref name="toadflaxes">{{Cite journal|doi=10.1086/668790|jstor=10.1086/668790|title=A Phylogeny of Toadflaxes (Linaria ''Mill''.) Based on Nuclear Internal Transcribed Spacer Sequences: Systematic and Evolutionary Consequences|year=2013|last1=Fernández-Mazuecos|first1=Mario|last2=Blanco-Pastor|first2=José Luis|last3=Vargas|first3=Pablo|journal=International Journal of Plant Sciences|volume=174|issue=2|pages=234–249|bibcode=2013IJPlS.174..234F |s2cid=85302392}}</ref> None of the names originally allocated to this section are now accepted.
=== Snapdragons === While ''Antirrhinum majus'' is the plant that is usually meant by the term of "snapdragon" if used on its own, many other species in the genus, and in the family Scrophulariaceae more widely, have common names that include the word "snapdragon". For example, ''Antirrhinum molle'' is known as "dwarf snapdragon" in the UK.<ref>{{cite web|title=Antirrhinum molle. dwarf snapdragon|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/1371/i-Antirrhinum-molle-i/Details|publisher=rhs.org.uk|access-date=1 September 2017}}</ref>
=== Species === The following species are recognised in the genus ''Antirrhinum'':<ref name=POWO /> {{div col|colwidth=22em}}
*''Antirrhinum australe'' {{small|Rothm.}} *''Antirrhinum barrelieri'' {{small|Boreau}} *''Antirrhinum × bilbilitanum'' {{small|Güemes & Mateo}} *''Antirrhinum braun-blanquetii'' {{small|Rothm.}} *''Antirrhinum charidemi'' {{small|Lange}} *''Antirrhinum × chavannesii'' {{small|Rothm.}} *''Antirrhinum cirrhigerum'' {{small|(Welw. ex Ficalho) Rothm.}} *''Antirrhinum controversum'' {{small|Pau}} *''Antirrhinum × ferrandopardoi'' {{small|P.P.Ferrer}} *''Antirrhinum graniticum'' {{small|Rothm.}} *''Antirrhinum grosii'' {{small|Font Quer}} *''Antirrhinum hispanicum'' {{small|Chav.}} *''Antirrhinum × inexpectans'' {{small|P.P.Ferrer, R.Roselló, E.Laguna & Güemes}} *''Antirrhinum × kretschmeri'' {{small|Rothm.}} *''Antirrhinum latifolium'' {{small|Mill.}} *''Antirrhinum linkianum'' {{small|Boiss. & Reut.}} *''Antirrhinum majus'' {{small|L.}} *''Antirrhinum martenii'' {{small|(Font Quer) Rothm.}} *''Antirrhinum meonanthum'' {{small|Hoffmanns. & Link}} *''Antirrhinum microphyllum'' {{small|Rothm.}} *''Antirrhinum molle'' {{small|L.}} *''Antirrhinum × montserratii'' {{small|Molero & Romo}} *''Antirrhinum pertegasii'' {{small|Rothm.}} *''Antirrhinum pulverulentum'' {{small|Lázaro Ibiza}} *''Antirrhinum rothmaleri'' {{small|(P.Silva) Amich, Bernardos & García-Barriuso}} *''Antirrhinum sempervirens'' {{small|Lapeyr.}} *''Antirrhinum siculum'' {{small|Mill.}} *''Antirrhinum tortuosum'' {{small|Bosc ex Lam.}} *''Antirrhinum valentinum'' {{small|Font Quer}} {{div col end}}
=== Etymology === The name "''Antirrhinum''" is derived from the Greek {{lang|grc|ἀντίρρινον}} ''antirrhinon'' which in turn is derived from {{lang|grc|ἀντί}} ''anti'' "opposite, counterfeiting", and {{lang|grc|ῥίς}} ''rhis'' "nose" (<small>GEN</small> {{lang|grc|ῥινόϛ}} ''rhinos''); from its resemblance to an animal's mouth.<ref>{{Cite OED|Antirrhinum}}</ref>
== Ecology == Snapdragons are short-lived perennial plants that survive well in cold seasons but are often replanted each spring and considered annual plants. They do best in full or partial sun, in well-drained soil since their roots are susceptible to rotting (although they do require regular watering<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sunset.com/garden/flowers-plants/snapdragon-antirrhinum-majus|title=Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)|date=Sep 22, 2004|website=Sunset Magazine|access-date=May 30, 2020}}</ref>). They are classified commercially as a range of heights: ''midget'' or ''dwarf'' ({{convert|15-20|cm|in|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}), ''medium'' ({{convert|15-30|in|cm|round=5|order=flip|abbr=on|disp=or}}) and ''tall'' ({{convert|30–48|in|cm|round=5|order=flip|abbr=on|disp=or}}). Removing the dead flowers, referred to as deadheading, is important to help them to continuously produce beautiful flowers throughout their growing season. They are susceptible to ethylene gas, so removing dead flowers and keeping them away from ripe fruits or vegetables also helps them bloom longer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Snapdragon information from Flowers.org.uk|url=http://www.flowers.org.uk/flowers/flowers-names/q-t/snapdragon/|website=www.flowers.org.uk|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref> They grow during their peak seasons of April to June and August to October in the Northern Hemisphere<ref name=":0" /> and bloom in a variety of colors such as white, yellow, orange, red, purple, pink,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Heather |first=Molly |date=2023-07-09 |title=Pink Snapdragon Flowers: Ultimate Guide to Growing & Caring These Beautiful Blooms |url=https://organicgardeningeek.com/pink-snapdragon-flowers/ |access-date=2023-07-09 |website=organicgardeningeek.com |language=en-US}}</ref> including multicolored patterns.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Antirrhinum majus - Plant Finder|url=http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a561|website=www.missouribotanicalgarden.org|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref>
They are ecologically diverse, particularly the New World species (''Saerorhinum'').<ref name=Oyama/>
== Cultivation == The snapdragon is an important garden plant, widely cultivated from tropical to temperate zones as a bedding, rockery, herbaceous border or container plant.<ref name="Tolety-2011" /> Cultivars have showy white, crimson, or yellow bilabiate flowers (with two lips). It is also important as a model organism in botanical research, and its genome has been studied in detail.
=== Genetic studies === ''Antirrhinum'' is a genus that has been used from the earliest genetic studies of Gregor Mendel and Charles Darwin and was used as a model by Erwin Baur.<ref name="Tolety-2011" /> Together with closely related genera, it has become a model organism for the investigation of the genetic basis of plant development, particularly floral development.<ref name=Oyama/><ref name=Wilson/> The genus is a typical example of incomplete dominance by the red allele with the anthocyanin pigment. Any cross between red-flowered and white-flowered snapdragons, give an intermediate and heterozygous phenotype with pink flowers, that carries both the dominant and recessive alleles.<ref name="incomplete dominance">{{cite book | title=Genetics : analysis of genes and genomes| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3E_0H6dEvfQC&q=Antirrhinum+%22incomplete+dominance%22| last=Hartl| first=Daniel L.|author2=Elizabeth W. Jones| year=2005| pages=3.6 Incomplete Dominance and Epistasis| publisher=Jones & Bartlett publishers| isbn=978-0-7637-1511-3|edition = sixth}}</ref>
Several species of ''Antirrhinum'' are self-incompatible, meaning that a plant cannot be fertilised by its own pollen.<ref name="Xue et al 1996">{{cite journal |last=Xue |first=Yongbiao |author2=Rosemary Carpenter|author-link2=Rosemary Carpenter |author3=Hugh G. Dickinson |author4=Enrico S. Coen |date=May 1996 |title=Origin of allelic diversity in antirrhinum S locus RNases |journal=The Plant Cell |volume=8 |pages=805–814 |pmid=8672882 |doi=10.2307/3870283 |issue=5 |pmc=161139 |jstor=3870283 |bibcode=1996PlanC...8..805X }}</ref> Self-incompatibility in the genus has been studied since the early 1900s.<ref name="Xue et al 1996"/> Self-incompatibility in ''Antirrhinum'' species is controlled gametophytically and shares many important features with self-incompatibility systems in Rosaceae and Solanaceae.<ref name="Takayama and Isogai 2005">{{cite journal |last=Takayama |first=Seiji |author2=Akira Isogai |s2cid=1196223 |year=2005 |title=Self-incompatibility in plants |journal=Annual Review of Plant Biology |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=467–489 |pmid=15862104 |doi=10.1146/annurev.arplant.56.032604.144249 |bibcode=2005AnRPB..56..467T }}</ref>
== Uses == In addition to growing the plants for cut flowers, the seeds have been used to extract edible oils, particularly in Russia, while the leaves and flowers have been considered to possess antiphlogistic (anti-inflammatory) properties and have been used in poultices. A green dye has also been extracted from the flowers.<ref name="Tolety-2011">{{cite book |last1=Tolety |first1=J |last2=Sane |first2=A |chapter=''Antirrhinum'' |editor-last=Kole |editor-first=C |title=Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources. Plantation and Ornamental Crops |publisher=Springer |date=2011 |pages=1–14 }}</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery> File:Yellow-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 08.jpg|Yellow snapdragon flower File:Antirrhinum majus-Flower 01.jpg|''Antirrhinum majus'' flower File:Pink Snapdragon Flower-Antirrhinum majus 02.jpg|Pink snapdragon flower File:Antirrhinum majus-Flower 03.jpg|''Antirrhinum majus'' flower File:Pink Snapdragon Flower 02.jpg|Pink snapdragon flower File:White-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 05.jpg|White snapdragon flower File:Yellow-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 03.jpg|Yellow snapdragon flower File:Antirrhinum majus-Flower 02.jpg|''Antirrhinum majus'' flower File:Antirrhinum white.jpg|Variety in Pakistan File:Antirrhinum-2.jpg|Variety in Pakistan File:Yellow-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 05.jpg|Yellow snapdragon flower File:Pink Snapdragon Flower-Antirrhinum majus 01.jpg|Pink snapdragon flower File:White-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 03.jpg|White snapdragon flower File:Yellow-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 02.jpg|Yellow snapdragon flower File:Pink Snapdragon Flower 03.jpg|Pink snapdragon flower File:White-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 01.jpg|White snapdragon flower File:Antirrhinum majus-Flower 04.jpg|''Antirrhinum majus'' flower File:Antirrhinum-3.jpg|Variety in Pakistan File:Antirrhinum (Snapdragon).jpg|Variety in India File:Yellow-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 04.jpg|Yellow snapdragon flower File:Antirrhinum-4.jpg|Variety in Pakistan File:Antirrhinum-5.jpg|Variety in Pakistan File:Yellow-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 07.jpg|Yellow snapdragon flower File:Pink Snapdragon Flower 01.jpg|Pink snapdragon flower File:White-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 04.jpg|White snapdragon flower File:Yellow-Snapdragon-Flower(Antirrhinum majus) 06.jpg|Yellow snapdragon flower File:Pink Snapdragon Flower-Antirrhinum majus 03.jpg|Pink snapdragon flower File:Antirrhinum-01.jpg|Antirrhinum in Pakistan File:Antirrhinum majus 6.jpg|Snapdragon cultivar in India </gallery>
== References == {{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=Barringer>{{cite journal |last1=Barringer |first1=Kerry |title=New combinations in ''Sairocarpus'' (Plantaginaceae) |journal=Phytoneuron |date=2013-05-20 |volume=2013 |issue=34 |pages=1–3 |url=https://phytoneuron.net/2013Phytoneuron/34PhytoN-Sairocarpus.pdf |access-date=2020-05-30 |issn=2153-733X}}</ref>
<ref name=Mateu>{{Cite journal|url= |title=Allozymic Differentiation of the Antirrhinum majus and A. siculum Species Groups|first1=I.|last1=Mateu-Andrés|first2=Lorena|last2=De Paco|date=Feb 1, 2005|journal=Annals of Botany|volume=95|issue=3|pages=465–473|via=academic.oup.com|doi=10.1093/aob/mci055|pmid=15596453|pmc=4246802}}</ref>
<ref name=Oyama>{{cite journal | last1 = Oyama | first1 = R. K. | last2 = Baum | first2 = D. A. | year = 2004 | title = Phylogenetic relationships of North American ''Antirrhinum'' (Veronicaceae) | url = https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3732/ajb.91.6.918 | journal = American Journal of Botany | volume = 91 | issue = 6| pages = 918–925 | doi = 10.3732/ajb.91.6.918 | pmid = 21653448 | bibcode = 2004AmJB...91..918O | url-access = subscription }}</ref>
<ref name=Thompson>Thompson, D. M. (1988). Systematics of ''Antirrhinum'' (Scrophulariaceae) in the New World. ''Systematic Botany Monographs'' 22.</ref>
<ref name=Wilson>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1365-313X.2011.04563.x | pmid=21435047 | volume=66 | issue=6 | title=The evolutionary history of Antirrhinum suggests that ancestral phenotype combinations survived repeated hybridizations | year=2011 | journal=The Plant Journal | pages=1032–1043 | last1 = Wilson | first1 = Yvette| s2cid=26113532 | doi-access=free }}</ref> }}
== Sources == * Sutton, D.A. (1988) A Revision of the Tribe Antirrhineae. Oxford: OUP. * Rothmaler W. 1956. Taxonomische Monographie der Gattung Antirrhinum. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, Germany. * {{cite journal | last1 = Romo | first1 = A. | last2 = Stubing | first2 = G. | last3 = Peris | first3 = J. B. | year = 1995 | title = A new species of Antirrhinum (Scrophulariaceae) from North Morocco | journal = Annales Botanici Fennici | volume = 32 | pages = 165–168 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Albach | first1 = D. C. | last2 = Meudt | first2 = H. M. | last3 = Oxelman | first3 = B. | year = 2005 | title = Piecing together the "new" Plantaginaceae | journal = American Journal of Botany | volume = 92 | issue = 2| pages = 297–315 | doi=10.3732/ajb.92.2.297 | pmid=21652407 | bibcode = 2005AmJB...92..297A }} * {{cite journal |last1=Doaigey |first1=A. R. |last2=Harkiss |first2=K. J. |title=Application of epidermal characters to the taxonomy of European species of ''Antirrhinum'' (Scrophulariaceae) |journal=Nordic Journal of Botany |date=December 1991 |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=513–524 |doi=10.1111/j.1756-1051.1991.tb01258.x |bibcode=1991NorJB..11..513D }} * {{cite journal |last1=Vargas |first1=P. |last2=Rosselló |first2=J. A. |last3=Oyama |first3=R. |last4=Gũemes |first4=J. |title=Molecular evidence for naturalness of genera in the tribe Antirrhineae (Scrophulariaceae) and three independent evolutionary lineages from the New World and the Old |journal=Plant Systematics and Evolution |date=2004 |volume=249 |issue=3–4 |pages=151–172 |doi=10.1007/s00606-004-0216-1 |bibcode=2004PSyEv.249..151V |s2cid=20328396 |url=https://www.rjb.csic.es/jardinbotanico/ficheros/documentos/pdf/pubinv/PVG/Vargas_al_2004_PSE_Antirrhineae.pdf |issn=0378-2697}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} *[http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Antirrhinum The Plant List] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090706063849/http://www.topwalks.net/plants/generos/scrophulariaceae_01.htm Antirrhinum in Topwalks] *[http://cshprotocols.cshlp.org/cgi/content/full/2008/11/pdb.emo100 The Genus Antirrhinum (Snapdragon): A Flowering Plant Model for Evolution and Development] *[http://bioinfo.sibs.ac.cn/Am/ ''Antirrhinum majus'' genetic and phenotypic database]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q157646}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Antirrhinum Category:Plantaginaceae genera Category:Extant Pliocene first appearances Category:Plant models Category:Anthocyanins Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus