Relatives

Isatis tinctoria L. - Woad.

Taxonomic position.

Family Brassicaceae, genus Isatis L.

Morphology and biology.

Biennial plant, 70-80 cm tall. Bottom leaves are acutate, oblong-lanceolate, pilose, smooth-edged or serrated. Middle and upper leaves are linear, acute, narrow and arrow-shaped. Inflorescence is sparse, paniculate. Petals are yellow, 3-4.5 mm in length. Silicles are bare, 3-4 times longer than they are wide, 13-16 mm long and 3-4 mm wide, oblong linear with a wedge-shaped base, obtuse or emarginate; the core is thin, somewhat ribbed. Blossoms in June; bears fruit in August. Entomophilous. Chromosome number is unknown.

Distribution.

Occurs throughout Central, Eastern, and Atlantic Europe. Within the former USSR, the specie occurs throughout the European part (Middle Dnieper, Volga-Don, Upper and Lower Volga, Near-Black-Sea, Lower Don, Trans-Volga and Crimean areas); the Caucasus (Ante-Caucasus, southern Trans-Caucasus and Daghestan); and Middle Asia (Aral-Caspian and Near-Balkhash areas).

Ecology.

Occurs near seacoasts, on steppes, and on dry hills and hillsides; rare adventitious plants occur along railroads.

Utilization and economic value.

Leaves yield ingredients for blue and green dyes used for dying cloth. Nectariferous plant.

Reference citations:

Bush N.A., ed. 1939. Flora of the USSR. Vol. 8. Cruciferae. Moscow-Leningrad, 212-213 pp. (In Russian)
Cherepanov S.K. 1995. Plantae Vasculares Rossicae et Civitatum Collimitanearum (in limicis USSR olim). St. Petersburg: Mir I Semia. 990 pp. (In Russian)
Dorofeev V.I. 1998. Family Cruciferae (Brassicaceae) middle Zone of a European part of the Russian Federation. Turchaninowia, Barnaul, 1(3): 94 pp. (In Russian)
Dorofeev V.I. 2002. Cruciferae (Brassicaceae) of European Russia. Turchaninowia, Barnaul, 5(3): 115 pp. (In Russian)
Grossgeim, A.A. 1950. Flora of the Caucasus. Vol. 4. Moscow-Leningrad, 175 pp. (In Russian)

© T.N. Smekalova

 

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