Paronychia is a genus of plants in the family Caryophyllaceae with over 110 species worldwide, mostly from warm-temperate North America, Eurasia, South America and Africa. They are herbs that are annual or biennial or perennial in life span. Some species have a woody base. For the most part they have small, white to yellow-white colored flowers that are often hidden within the paired bracts.
| Paronychia | |
|---|---|
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| Paronychia argentea | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Caryophyllaceae |
| Genus: | Paronychia Mill. |
| Species | |
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110+, see text | |
The genus Siphonychia has been incorporated into Paronychia by botanists.
The common names for some of the species include chickweed, nailwort, and Whitlow-wort. The genus gets its name from the disease of the fingernails which it was once thought to cure. Traditional healers in modern-day use species of this genus to treat kidney stones.[1]
Selected species edit
- Paronychia ahartii – Ahart's nailwort
- Paronychia argentea – Algerian tea[2]
- Paronychia argyrocoma – Silvery nailwort[3]
- Paronychia canadensis – smooth-forked nailwort
- Paronychia chartacea – paper nailwort
- Paronychia drummondii – Drummond's nailwort
- Paronychia fastigiata – hairy-forked nailwort
- Paronychia franciscana – San Francisco nailwort
- Paronychia jamesii – James' nailwort
- Paronychia palaestina[4]
- Paronychia rugelii – Rugel's nailwort
- Paronychia sessiliflora – creeping nailwort
- Paronychia virginica – Virginia nailwort or Yellow nailwort[5]
References edit
- ^ Jardat, Nidal Amin; et al. (May 8, 2017). "Ethnopharmacological survey of medicinal plants practiced by traditional healers and herbalists for treatment of some urological diseases in the West Bank/Palestine". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 17 (1): 255. doi:10.1186/s12906-017-1758-4. PMC 5422913. PMID 28482898.
- ^ "Paronychia argentea Lam". Plants For A Future.
- ^ "Paronychia argyrocoma (Michx.) Nutt. - silvery nailwort". Natural Resources Conservation Services, United States Department of Agriculture.
- ^ "Paronychia palaestina Eig | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science".
- ^ "Paronychia virginica Spreng. – yellow nailwort". Natural Resources Conservation Services, United States Department of Agriculture.
External links edit
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