Species
Parietaria officinalis
Etymology
officinalis: From the Latin officina shortened from opificina which originally meant 'workshop' but later came to mean a monastic storeroom, herb-room or pharmacy. Refers to the plant's real or perceived medicinal value.
Common Name(s)
pellitory, pellitory of the wall, lichwort
Authority
Parietaria officinalis L.
Family
Urticaceae
Flora Category
Vascular - Exotic
Structural Class
Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites
Habitat
The name of this genus, Parietaria, is derived from the Latin word paries (a wall). It is commonly found growing from nooks and crannies in dry walls hence the popular English name. It will frequently grow in stony rubbish.
Features
It is a much-branched, bushy, herbaceous, perennial plant, growing to 0.6m by 0.6m. It has reddish, brittle stems and narrow, stalked leaves 3 to 6cm long. The stems and veins of the under surface of the leaves have short, soft hairs, the upper surface of the leaves is nearly smooth, with sunken veins. The small, green stalkless flowers grow in clusters in the axils of the leaves and are in bloom all the summer. The filaments of their stamens are jointed and so elastic that if touched before the expansion of the flower, they suddenly spring from their incurved position and scatter their pollen. The whole plant can be used for cleaning glass such as windows and also copper containers. It was once used as a medicinal herb.
Similar Taxa
Parietaria judaica and the native Parietaria debilis.
Flower Colours
Green
Year Naturalised
1981
Origin
N. Africa, C. and S. Europe to Asia
This page last updated on 29 Mar 2010