Clintonia uniflora - Queen's Cup

Clintonia uniflora 2 RF
Clintonia uniflora habit
(Wikimedia)1
Clintonia uniflora berry
Clintonia uniflora flower detail
(Wikimedia)2
Clintonia uniflora, by Mary Vaux Walcott
The single blue berry of Clintonia uniflora
(Wikimedia)3

Synonyms

General: "Perennial herb from a slender rhizome; flowering stems 4-15 (20) cm tall, hairy." [IFBC-E-flora]
Leaves: "Basal leaves 2 or 3, oblanceolate to oblong or elliptic, 10-25 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, sheathing at the base, shiny and slightly fleshy, variably long-soft-hairy beneath, the margins entire, hairy; stem leaves lacking, bracts 1 or 2." [IFBC-E-flora]
Flowers: "Inflorescence of solitary or rarely 2, erect flowers atop a leafless, 1- to 2-bracted, hairy stalk; flowers white, hairy, bell-shaped, about 2 cm long, of 6 similar, distinct tepals; stamens 6, the filaments loosely woolly-hairy; pistil 1, 2- or 3-chambered." [IFBC-E-flora]
Fruits: "Berries, globe- to egg-shaped, metallic blue, 6-12 mm long; seeds 10 to 15, black." [IFBC-E-flora]

Habitat/Range: "Moist to mesic forests and glades from the lowland to lower subalpine zones; common in BC south of 56degreeN; N to S AK, E to SW AB and S to MT, ID and CA." [IFBC-E-flora]

Status: Native [E-flora]

Ecological Indicator: "A very shade-tolerant, montane to subalpine, Western North American forb distributed more in the Pacific than the Cordilleran region. Occurs in boreal and cool temperate climates on moderately dry to fresh, nitrogen-poor soils. Common in the shaded understory of coniferous forests on water-shedding and water-receiving sites. Typically associated with Hylocomium splendens, Pleurozium schreberi, ptilium crista-castrensis, Rhytidiopsis robusta, Rubus pedatus, and Vaccinium membranaceum. An oxylophytic species characteristic of Mor humus forms." [IPBC-E-flora]

Food Use

Medicinal Uses

eye ailments, skin ailments [CRC Eth]

"Halverson's [45] summary of indicator plants of western Oregon and southwestern Washington noted the traditional use of bride's bonnet juice for sore eyes and bruised leaves to stop bleeding [45]." [USDA]2

"Bella Coola: Boiled and used to wash the body. One leaf toasted and applied as a poultice to eyes or wounds." (Smith, 1927)

Phytochemistry

Research into the specific phytochemistry of Clintonia uniflora is limited. Like other members of the lily family, it may contain various alkaloids and saponins. The genus Clintonia is known to contain steroidal saponins. (PFAF)

Cultivation & Propagation

"Bride's bonnet occurs on sites with a wide range of light availability [35,119]. Its shade tolerance has been widely reported [4,64,70,105]. It has been found on sites with as little as 1.5% to 3.5% full sunlight [35,119] and over 60% full sunlight [35]. Bride's bonnet typically increases as light availability increases from very low levels." [USDA]2

"Bride's bonnet occurs in all successional classes, but has higher frequency and is more abundant in mature conifer stands [3,11,25,34,123]. Bride's bonnet 's association with mature and old-growth stands is shown by Ruggiero and others [96] and Spies [105] for the southern Washington Cascade Range and by Ruggiero and others [96] for southern Oregon and northern California. However, bride's bonnet also occurs in young stands [15,31,43,117]. Clarke and others [21] found bride's bonnet was most common in the 0- to 50- and 151- to 200-year-old forest age classes. Bride's bonnet also occurred in the 51- to 100- and 101- to 150-year-old age classes, but did not occur in stands older than 200 years. The wide tolerance ranges for nutrients and light mentioned above, and bride's bonnet 's ability to persist after moderate disturbances [108], are likely factors influencing the occurrence of bride's bonnet in stands of varying ages." [USDA]2

Lore & History

The common name Queen's Cup is a fitting description for the delicate single flower. The genus name Clintonia honors DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828), an American politician and naturalist who served as governor of New York. The species name 'uniflora' means 'one-flowered'. (WNA)

Indicator Plant

"Bride's bonnet is a useful indicator for the health of certain stands. It typically occurs on sites that have high conifer productivity [44,48,66,114]. Schenk and others [98] determined that bride's bonnet indicated low risk of grand fir mortality from fir engraver beetles. Frederick and Partridge [40] found bride's bonnet was a good indicator of sites with high incidence of decay due to the moist nature of the areas in which fungus occurs." [USDA]2

Wildlife Food

"Bride's bonnet is food for several wildlife species. Frugivorous birds eat bride's bonnet berries. Varied thrush was the main species eating fruit in a study in southeastern Washington [90]. Grouse have also been reported to eat bride's bonnet seeds [72,92]. Hungerford [58] lists bride's bonnet as an important ruffed grouse food; however, use was not demonstrated. Almack [2] reported a grizzly bear eating bride's bonnet roots. Piper [91] reported a low incidence of rodent use of bride's bonnet during an investigation of frugivorous birds. Elk and deer consume bride's bonnet berries while grazing, although the extent was not reported [91]. Young and Robinette [121] list bride's bonnet as a low-importance food for elk on the Selway Game Preserve of northern Idaho, although bride's bonnet was not included as a food item in other studies that have investigated ungulate diets [61,62,84]. Bride's bonnet is not considered palatable to many species [66,92] and the berry may be poisonous [44,45,92,114]. Nutritional content of the berry is given below [91]." [USDA]2

(91)[USDA]2

CLINTONIA - BEAD LILY

Family: Liliaceae - Lily [POWO]

Clintonia is a small genus of flowering plants, with about five species native to temperate North America and East Asia. They are rhizomatous perennials characterized by their basal leaves and umbels or single flowers on a scape. Other North American species include C. borealis (Bluebead Lily) in the east and C. andrewsiana (Andrew's Clintonia) on the California coast. (FNAN)

Clintonia borealis (Aiton) Raf.

"The native range of this species is Central & E. Canada to N. Central & E. U.S.A. It is a perennial and grows primarily in the temperate biome." [POWO]

Food Use

"Young leaves - raw or cooked[61, 105, 177]. Harvested in spring before they fully unfurl[62], they have a slightly sweetish cucumber flavour[55, 183]. Older leaves can be used as a potherb[55]." [PFAF]2

Clintonia borealis (Ait.) Raf. Liliaceae - diabetes [Ramzan PESR]

[Turner&Kuhnlein]

[Turner&Kuhnlein]

antidote; burns, heart ailments, skin ailments,. women's ailments [CRC Eth]

"A decoction of Clintonia borealis was used by the Iroquois to treat diabetes (Moerman, 1998)." (Acuna,2002)

"Clintonia borealis (Ait.) Raf. Northern clintonia. Smith 9260. "St~m~k~" (Dog medicine). The root is used to kill worms in a dog, and in a person, too. (A189)" [HuronSmith Winnebago]

"189. Clintonia borealis (Ait.) Raf. Northern clintonia. Smith 9260. "St~m~k~" (Dog medicine). The root is ground up for dog medicine, [in case of] distemper. It is also used to kill worms in a dog. (M75)" [HuronSmith Winnebago]

"Northern Clintonia (Clintonia borealis [Ait.] Raf.)171 “Kockanda'-mînokwi”. This Forest Potawatomi name sounds as though it should be a plant used in midwifery and our informant told us that it was employed as a medicine but did not explain its exact use. There is no record of its use by the whites to our knowledge." [HuronSmith Zuni]

Poison: "Dogs were given Clintonia borealis to poison their teeth for hunting and fighting.21" [David E. Jones]

Low Antioxidant activity: "The EtOAc extract of Sorbus americana (IC50 = 113.96 5.48 g/mL) and Clintonia borealis (IC50 = 162.50 10.76 g/mL) displayed low activity (IC50 100 g/mL and IC50 200 g/mL). The tested ex- tracts from Juniperus osteosperma (IC50 = 265.32 3.78 g/mL) and Opuntia polyacantha (IC50 = 234.94 8.99 g/mL) showed no significant inhibitory activity (IC50 200 g/mL) compared with the negative control." (Acuna,2002)

Clintonia udensis Trautv. & C.A.Mey.

"The native range of this species is Himalaya to Russian Far East and N. & N. Central Japan. It is a perennial and grows primarily in the temperate biome." [POWO]2

Food Use

"Young leaves and shoots - cooked as a vegetable[177, 272]." [PFAF]

Phytochemicals

Heloniogenin - Clintonia alpina [EncyTCM3]

Clintonia alpina Kunth ex Baker - This name is a synonym of Clintonia udensis [POWO]3

Clintonia umbellulata - (Michx.)Morong. - White clintonia

"The native range of this species is E. U.S.A. It is a perennial and grows primarily in the temperate biome." [POWO]4

Food Use

"Young leaves - raw or cooked[61, 105, 177]. Harvested in spring before they fully unfurl, they have a cucumber flavour[62]. Older leaves can be cooked[62]." [PFAF]3

References

Image References

  1. Robert Flogaus-Faust, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
  2. Thayne Tuason, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
  3. Mary Vaux Walcott, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Journals of Interest