Bifora is a small genus of annual herbs in the carrot family (Apiaceae), containing just two to three recognised species of disjunct distribution across Eurasia and North America. Plants are slender annuals with leaves that are doubly pinnatisect (twice divided into narrow segments), and they bear their flowers in compound umbels typically equipped with both bracts and bracteoles. The petals are white and slightly notched (emarginate), with inflexed tips characteristic of the family. Sepals are absent. The fruits are schizocarps that split into two subglobose mericarps with distinctively rugose, warty surfaces, a short stylopodium, and seed with concave endosperm; the ribs are inconspicuous in transverse section and vittae (oil canals) are not apparent — features that distinguish Bifora within tribe Coriandreae.
The genus was formally described by the German botanist Georg Franz Hoffmann and published in Genera Plantarum Umbelliferarum in Moscow in 1816, with Bifora dicocca Hoffm. (now treated as Bifora testiculata) as the type species. Two species are primarily Eurasian: Bifora radians ranges from Spain eastward through south-central and southern Europe to Iran, while Bifora testiculata has a broader and more southerly range spanning Spain to Uzbekistan and extending into North Africa, the Levant, and Saudi Arabia. A third species, Bifora americana (prairie bishop's weed), occurs in the southern United States, confined mainly to Texas and Arkansas.
Taxonomy Notes
Bifora was described by Georg Franz Hoffmann in 1816 in Genera Plantarum Umbelliferarum, published in Moscow. It belongs to tribe Coriandreae within Apiaceae. The type species, originally named Bifora dicocca Hoffm., is now correctly treated as Bifora testiculata (Hoffm.) M.Bieb. GBIF recognises two accepted species in the genus.
Distribution
Bifora has a disjunct distribution spanning Eurasia and North America. Bifora radians grows from Spain east through south-central and southern Europe to Iran; Bifora testiculata occupies a broader, more southerly range from Spain to Uzbekistan, including North Africa, the Levant, and Saudi Arabia. Bifora americana (prairie bishop's weed) is restricted to Texas and Arkansas in the United States, with introduced populations in Alabama.
Cultural Uses
In Jordan, Bifora testiculata is known by the Arabic name كزبرة (kazbira), a name also applied to the closely related herb coriander. A tisane prepared from the seed-like mericarp fruits is used in traditional medicine as a sedative and as a remedy for stomach pains.
