Tordylium is a genus of flowering plants in the carrot family (Apiaceae), order Apiales, commonly known as hartworts. The genus was first formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in Species Plantarum, and as of 2022 Plants of the World Online recognises approximately 20 species. The genera Ainsworthia and Synelcosciadium were subsumed into Tordylium by El-Aisawi & Jury in 1998.
Members of the genus are annuals or biennials, characteristically covered in long hairs. Their stems may be hollow or almost solid. Basal leaves are more or less undivided and have usually withered away by the time the plant flowers; stem leaves are once pinnate. The flowers bear persistent sepals and white petals, the outermost petals of the marginal flowers being considerably longer than those on the inner side — giving the umbel heads a distinctive lace-like fringe. The fruits are roughly as wide as they are long, with whitish-winged lateral ridges, a trait shared with other members of the broader carrot family.
Species are distributed predominantly across the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East, extending into Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Greece. Notable members include Tordylium apulum (Mediterranean hartwort), Tordylium maximum (hartwort), and Tordylium officinale (Cretan or officinal hartwort), the last of which has a long history of medicinal use.
Etymology
The genus name Tordylium derives from the Greek τορδύλιον (tordúlion), itself a variant form of τόρδυλον (tórdulon), the ancient Greek word for hartwort, specifically Tordylium officinale.
Distribution
Tordylium species are distributed mainly across the Mediterranean basin and the broader Middle East, with species documented from Greece, Italy, Turkey (including Cappadocia), Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. The genus is centred in the eastern Mediterranean.
Taxonomy Notes
Species of Tordylium were first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in Species Plantarum. The genera Ainsworthia and Synelcosciadium were formally included within Tordylium by El-Aisawi & Jury in 1998. As of December 2022, Plants of the World Online accepts 20 species in the genus. GBIF places the genus in family Apiaceae, order Apiales.
Cultural Uses
Tordylium apulum (Mediterranean hartwort) is gathered and eaten as a vegetable in Greece and used as a flavouring herb in Italy. Tordylium officinale has a long history of medicinal use: its fruit was formerly employed as an emmenagogue, and the plant was listed as an ingredient of Theriac, an ancient polypharmaceutical preparation believed to act as an antidote to snake and other venoms. The fruits of Tordylium species generally are aromatic and carminative, a property shared with many other members of the Apiaceae family.
