Pearly Everlasting - Anaphalis Margaritacea
- Family: Asteraceae - Aster [E-flora]
Young Leaves Dye, Incence, Smoking Mixture, Tinder Dermatological, Rheumatism, Coughs, Colds, Flu, Headache
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General 20-100 cm tall. [PPNC]
Lifecycle Perennial [PFAF]
Flowers In August. dioecious (male or female)[PFAF] disk flowers yellowish [IFBC-E-flora], surrounded by pearly white bracts. [WildPNW] Dry. [PPNC]
Fruits Very small, roughened, hairless to sparsely hairy achenes. [PPNC]
Leaves Leaves linear [PSW] to lanceolate [HNW] and alternately arranged. [PSW] Greenish above [PPNC] with sparse white hairs, thickly covered beneath[WildPNW] with white-woolly hairs. [PPNC] margins often rolled under. [IFBC-E-flora]
Stem Stems erect [WildPNW], usually unbranched [IFBC-E-flora] and usually clustered [HNW]
Root Rhizomes.[PPNC]
Habitat Moist to dry meadows, open forests, logging units, fields and roadsides in the lowland, montane and subalpine zones.[IFBC-E-flora]
Range Common and widespread throughout our region.[PPNC] All but NE BC; N to AK, YT, and NT, E to NF and NS and S to NC, KY, AZ, NM and CA.[IFBC-E-flora] "Interruptedly circumboreal, in North America from NL (Labrador) and NL (Newfoundland) west to AK, south
to NC, TN, OK, TX, NM, CA, and Baja California." [Weakley FSMAS]
Status Native.[E-flora] An American native, introduced to and now established in Britian.[DPL Watts]
Ecological Indicator Shade-intolerant, submontane to subalpine. Water-shedding sites within alpine tundra, boreal. cool temperate, and cool mesothermal climates. Exposed mineral soil on cutover sites, clearings, and waysides. Characteristic of disturbed sites.[IPBC-E-flora]
Related Genera
Gnaphalium Sp & Antennaria Sp.
Food
- Young leaves - cooked.[105,177] [PFAF]
Other Uses
- Dye
- "Yellow to gold, also green and brown dyes can be obtained from the flowers, stems and leaves combined[168]" [PFAF]
- Incense Leaves - [UAPDS] Leaves, flowers & Stems - "Used as an incense, especially in baby cradles[257]"[PFAF]
- Smoking Mixture - Leaves - Best uncured leaves "have a lot of fuzz and not much mass". "Used ...as a flavoring agent and as the base for other herbs".[MPPW] "Josselyn, prior to 1670, remarks of this plant that "the fishermen when they want tobacco, take this herb: being cut and dryed."" [Sturtevant EWP]
- Tinder: "It was a very valuable plant before the tribal people had ready access to matches, for it was made into tinder to catch the sparks made by striking metal against rock when starting a fire. The woolly plant parts were put above the fireplace on a rack, thus keeping them both dry and available when needed." [PPGT Anderson]
Medicinal Usage
"The herbage of western pearly-everlasting has been used as a tobacco substitute to relieve headaches. As a tea, the plant has been used for colds, bronchial coughs, and throat infections. The whole plant can be used as a wash or poultice for external wounds. It has also been used for rheumatism, burns, sores, bruises, and swellings (Strike 1994)." [Vizgirdas WPSN]Popular Indications: Asthma, Bronchosis, Bruise, Burn, Catarrh, Cold, Cough, Dermatosis, Diarrhea, Dysentery, Insomnia, Nervousness, Pain, Paralysis, Pulmonosis, Rheumatism, Sore, Tumor.[HMH Duke] influenza medicine. [PPNC]
"Foot numbness/sores; blurred vision" [Ramzan PESR]
- Part Used: Whole Plant.
- Usages: "Anodyne, antiseptic, astringent, expectorant and sedative[4, 61, 168, 222]. Used internally, it is a good remedy for diarrhoea, dysentery and pulmonary affections[4]. An infusion of the plant is steamed and inhaled in the treatment of headaches[257]." [PFAF] "A cooled infusion of the roots and shoots has been used as a laxative and emetic to treat 'poison stomach'[257]." [PFAF]
- Leaves: "The patient has been recommended to chew the leaves in blossom to cure ulcers of the mouth and throat. An infusion of the flowers has been given through the rectum for the curing of bowel trouble. The poultice of the leaves has been used to heal bruises, indolent tumors, and local affections." [HuronSmith Zuni]
- Respiratory Ailments
- Part Used: Flowering Herb. [MPPW]
- Usages:
- Infusion: Soothing, anti-inflammatory, and astringent, acting as a feeble antihistamine and decreasing edema in swollen membranes. A tea for diarrhea, gastroenteritis (stomach flu), and an irritable stomach and esophagus. The tea and (for smokers), the smoked herb, acts similarity in helping cool the membranes and decrease their inflammation and edema, and acting as a mild expectorant. [MPPW] Boiled and drunk for internal disorders (Johnson, 1969; King, 1972).[Turner&Bell]
- Smoke: "The flowers were dropped on hot coals and the smoke was used to purify gifts which were left on a hill for the sun or the spirits. Before going into battle each man chewed a little of it, and rubbed it over his body, arms and legs, for it was supposed to give strength and energy, and so protection from danger (Youngken). Some of the Ojibwe people used it in a similar way, that is, they sprinkled the flowers on live coals, to be inhaled by anyone who had had a paralytic stroke (H H Smith. 1945)." [DPL Watts] "The Forest Potawatomi dry the flowers of this species and smoke it in a pipe or smudge it on coals to drive or keep evil spirits out of the room, which might prevent a patient from recovering." [HuronSmith Zuni]
- Poultice: "A poultice of the flowers or the whole plant is applied to burns, sores, ulcers, bruises, swellings and rheumatic joints[4, 222, 257]." [PFAF] It is "stimulating and healing to sunburns and other moderate burns from heat and friction." [MPPW]
- Harvesting: "...preferably in late summer when the blossoms are still compacted." Dried.[MPPW]
- Preparation:
- Standard Infusion.[MPPW] " FLOWERING HERB. Standard Infusion, as needed.Rubbed leaves mixed with hot water for poultice." [Moore(1995]
- Poultie: "The dried leaves are "rubbed into fuzzy wads and used with water...".[MPPW] Dried flowers applied to burns [MPPW] Mixed with yellow cedar pitch (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) and used to poultice sores and swellings. [Turner&Bell]
- Shelf Life: Up to 2 years.[MPPW]
Phytochemistry
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Pharmacology
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Cultivation
"Prefers a light well-drained soil and a sunny position[1, 133]. Requires a moist soil[208]. Succeeds in most soils[200], including poor ones[1], and also in light shade[200]. Succeeds in the shade of buildings, but not of trees[233]." [PFAF]
- Insect Host Plant
- Vanessa virginiensis - American Painted Lady - [Allen Caterpillars][Haggard IP] "Found throughout much of U.S. Larva is very easy to find
since it builds a conspicuous nest in the flower heads of the host plant." [Haggard IP]
- Aphid Host Plant
- Aphis fabae, [Aphis sp. (Leonard, 1964: 95)]; Brachycaudus helichrysi; Illinoia richardsi, richardsi ssp. pacifica; Macrosiphum euphorbiae; Myzus ornatus; Uroleucon idahoense, russellae [Blackman AWHPS]
- Aphis fabae, [Aphis sp. (Leonard, 1964: 95)]; Brachycaudus helichrysi; Illinoia richardsi, richardsi ssp. pacifica; Macrosiphum euphorbiae; Myzus ornatus; Uroleucon idahoense, russellae [Blackman AWHPS]
- Aphid Host Plant
Propagation
- "Seed - sow spring in a cold frame[1, 133]. The seed is best sown when it is ripe in the autumn. It usually germinates in 4 - 8 weeks at 15oc[133]. Division is very easy at almost any time of the year, the divisions can be planted straight into their permanent positions if required." [PFAF] "Seed matures from July to September. Collect by hand by clipping the heads, which can be dried by laying them out on tarps or in bags. Clean with a hammermill. Sow directly or in containers in the spring; planted very shallow (Wright 1975, Link 1993)." [PPNWNP]
- Vegetative: "Dig up plants, divide, and replant when the clumps have become too dense, usually after three or four years of flowering. The best time of year for division is in the spring or fall (Wright 1975, Time Life, Inc. 1996)." [PPNWNP]
Anaphalis - Pearly-Everlasting
Perennial herb [subshrub], fibrous-rooted, from rhizome; ± dioecious.
Stem: generally erect.
Leaf: basal and cauline, alternate, sessile [petioled], linear to lanceolate or oblanceolate, narrowed at base, entire, adaxially green and ± glabrous or ± gray-tomentose, abaxially generally white to gray, tomentose or becoming glabrous, glandular or not.
Inflorescence: heads discoid or disciform, ± unisexual (sometimes a few pistillate flowers peripheral in generally staminate heads or 1–9 staminate flowers central in generally pistillate heads), in tight groups in ± flat-topped or panicle-like cluster; involucre ± spheric; receptacle flat, epaleate, glabrous; phyllaries ± graduated in 8–12 series, bright white, opaque, often proximally woolly.
Pistillate flower: many; corolla ± yellow, narrowly tubular, minutely lobed; anthers 0.
Staminate flower: corolla ± yellow; anther tip ovate; style tips truncate.
Fruit: oblong to obconic, 2-veined, papillate with club-shaped hairs; pappus bristles generally deciduous, free or basally fused, tips club-shaped in staminate flowers.
± 100 species: mostly Eurasia, 1 North America. (Ancient name or perhaps from generic name Gnaphalium) [Nesom 2006 FNANM 19:426–427] [Jepson] "The genus Anaphalis (Asteraceae) consists of about
80 species distributed throughout the world and more
than 50 species are distributed in china [1] and 31 species reported in India [2]." [Khemani CP]
Local Species
Non-local Species
- Anaphalis busua - "...most abundantly present in open places of oak and pine forests of submountain and mountain Himalayas. Leaf juice applied on bruises, wounds and cuts [2]. Anaphalisqualenol, anapharenosoic acid and araneosol isolated from the plant previously [3–4]."[Khemani CP] "The plant is known as ‘tall pearly everlasting’. The plant is reported to be grown from Bhutan, south China, north India and Nepal. In many countries, the plant is considered as invasive weeds." "Low concentrated infusion of shoots is given during food poisoning. Also used to treat body inflammation, blood discharge and contaminated diseases. The leaves are used for external blood clotting." [Veer, HIRB]
- Anaphalis contorta Hook. f. (Asteraceae). everlasting. This plant was burned for incense purposes in the Manang District of Nepal (Pohle 1990). [UAPDS]
- Anaphalis javanica Sch.Bip. (Asteraceae). Javan edelweiss. The people of Java, Indonesia, burned the leaves and branches of this species for incense purposes (Sangat-Roemantyo 1990) [UAPDS]
- Anaphalis morrisicola - contains Helenalin, a Sesquiterpene lactone with antineoplastic and cytotoxic activity [Bajaj MAPS 2]
- Anaphalis nepalensis Spreng. - Asteraceae - Inflorescence used as an aromatic [UNIDO Asia]
- Anaphalis royleana DC. (Asteraceae). dhoop. The dried flowers of dhoop were burned for incense purposes during certain religious ceremonies in the small town of Rewalsar, India (Sood and Thakur 2004). [UAPDS]
- Anaphalis triplinervis Sims ex C. B. Clarke. (Asteraceae). pearly everlasting. Like Anaphalis contorta Hook. f., this plant was burned for incense purposes in the Manang District of Nepal (Pohle 1990). [UAPDS] "Common name of A. triplinervis is ‘triplenerved pearly everlasting’. It grows wild throughout the Himalayan region up to 2300 m altitude." "Infusion of shoots is given during food poisoning, inflammation, blood discharge and contaminated diseases." [Veer, HIRB]
Aphid Host Plant
- Anaphalis spp. Aphis fabae; Uroleucon budhium
- A. araneosa Brachycaudus helichrysi
- A. cinnomomea Brachycaudus helichrysi
- A. contorta Aphis gossypii, spiraecola; Brachycaudus helichrysi
- A. luteoalbum Brachycaudus helichrysi
- A. subalpina Uroleucon idahoense
- A. subumbellata Oedisiphum soureni
- A. triplinervis Aphis gossypii; Brachycaudus helichrysi; Indomasonaphis anaphalidis; Oedisiphum soureni
- A. wiseida Brachycaudus helichrysi
- A. yedoensis Brachycaudus cardui [Blackman AWHPS]
References
- DukePhyto - Anaphalis margaritacea, Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. Online Database 07 May 2014.
- E-flora - Anaphalis margaritacea Accessed: 9/21/2014
- [Jepson]Guy L. Nesom, 2013. Anaphalis, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_IJM.pl?tid=310, accessed on Jan 19 2015
- PFAF - Anaphalis margaritacea Plants for a future, Accessed November 6, 2014
- Turner&Bell - The Ethnobotany of the Coast Salish Indians of Vancouver Island, Nancy Chapman Turner & Marcus A. M. Bell, Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Submitted for publication 9 June 1969