Narthecium ossifragum

Narthecium ossifragum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Dioscoreales
Family:	Nartheciaceae
Genus:	Narthecium
Species:	N. ossifragum
Binomial name
Narthecium ossifragum (L.) Huds.

Narthecium ossifragum, commonly known as bog-, Lancashire- or bastard asphodel, is a plant of Western Europe, found on wet, boggy moorlands up to about 1000 m. It produces spikes of bright yellow flowers in summer. The bright orange fruits have been used as a colourant to replace saffron by Shetland Islanders^[1]. Despite the plant's English name, it is not particularly closely related to the true Asphodels.

The Latin name means "weak bone" and refers to a traditional belief that eating the plant caused sheep to develop brittle bones. The probable origin of this story is that sheep eating a calcium poor diet are likely to develop bone weakness, and N. ossifragum favours acidic, low calcium soils^[1]

The plant causes a disease of sheep called alveld, "elf fire", in Norway. Not all stands of the plant are toxic, and the toxicity may be the side effect of the plant's response to a fungal infection ^[2][3][4]

It can be found in purple moor grass and rush pastures.

Gallery

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  Narthecium ossifragum
  in flower

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  Narthecium ossifragum
  Flower

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  Narthecium ossifragum
  fruiting

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  Narthecium ossifragum
  in fruit

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  in situ near El Serrat, Andorra

Illustrations

• 

  Narthecium ossifragum
  Illustration in:
  Jakob Sturm: "Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen",
  Stuttgart (1796)

• 

  Narthecium ossifragum
  Illustration in:
  Jakob Sturm: "Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen",
  Stuttgart (1796)
  clean version

• 

  Narthecium ossifragum
  Drawing by
  Elly Waterman

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Richard Mabey Flora Britannica
2. ^ Handbook of Plant and Fungal Toxicants by J. P. Felix D'Mello
3. ^ George B. B. Mitchell, 'Non-parasitic skin diseases of sheep' In Pract., Vol. 10, Issue 2, 69-73, March 1, 1988
4. ^ Arne Flåøyen, 'Studies on the aetiology and pathology of alveld'