Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Caryophyllales > Caryophyllaceae > Agrostemma > Agrostemma githago

Agrostemma githago (purple cockle; common corncockle; corncockle; cockle; corn cockle)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Agrostemma is a genus of annual plants in the Caryophyllaceae family, containing the species known as corncockles. Its best-known member is A. githago, the Common Corncockle, which is a native of Europe where it is simply called "the Corncockle". The species is a weed of cereals and other crops, probably with a centre of origin in the eastern Mediterranean. Nowadays declining in its native range because of improved seed cleaning, it is found as a weed worldwide. Agrostemma gracile, the Slender Corncockle, is only found in central Greece near the city of Farsala. Corncockle is an attractive plant, and its seeds are still commercially available to gardeners.
View Wikipedia Record: Agrostemma githago

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-Low
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Hermaphrodite
Hazards [2]  The seed and leaves are poisonous, containing saponin-like substances; Although poisonous, saponins are poorly absorbed by the human body and so most pass through without harm. Saponins are quite bitter and can be found in many common foods such as some beans. They can be removed by carefully leaching the seed or flour in running water. Thorough cooking, and perhaps changing the cooking water once, will also normally remove most of them. However, it is not advisable to eat large quantities of food that contain saponins. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish;
Lifespan [2]  Annual
Pollinators [2]  Bees, Lepidoptera
Structure [4]  Herb
Height [2]  35 inches (0.9 m)
Width [2]  6 inches (0.15 m)
Light Preference [3]  Mostly Sunny
View Plants For A Future Record : Agrostemma githago

Protected Areas

Predators

Galerida cristata (Crested Lark)[5]
Hypera arator[6]
Noctua pronuba (Large Yellow Underwing Moth)[6]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
♦ 2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 3Ellenberg, H., Weber, H.E., Dull, R., Wirth, V., Werner, W., Paulissen, D. (1991) Zeigerwerte von Pflanzen in Mitteleuropa. Scripta Geobotanica 18, 1–248
♦ 4Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
♦ 5CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE DIET OF IRANIAN BIRDS, Abolghasem Khaleghizadeh, Mohammad E. Sehhatisabet, Екологія, Беркут 15, Вип. 1-2. 2006. pp. 145-150
♦ 6Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0