Lapsana communis L., Nipplewort

Account Summary

Growth form and preferred habitats

Nipplewort is a tall, tap-rooted, annual (or rarely biennial or perennial) common species throughout B & I that germinates mainly in the autumn. It overwinters as a frost-hardy leaf rosette, but it also has a subsidiary spring germination to boost the population. The basal rosette leaves of L. communis are large, pinnately lobed, with a large terminal lobe and one or two pairs of side-lobes (ie it is lyrate), the terminal lobe oval and toothed. The slender, simple or branching, hollow stem height varies between 30-90(-120) cm, depending on soil fertility and the shade level of the habitat. It typically occurs in both semi-natural and 'artificial' lowland habitats, ranging from woodland margins, scrub, hedgerows, cliffs, stony slopes and screes to disturbed roadsides, waste ground, old walls and quarries. It avoids grazed areas, wetlands and ground occupied by vigorous, tall perennial species (Sinker et al. 1983; Grime et al. 1988, 2007).

Nipplewort prefers a moist but well-drained, coarse-textured or loam soil rather than fine-grained clay or organic substrates, although it can thrive in a wide range of moisture and acidity levels. Like other ruderal species, it is most frequent in fertile, disturbed habitats with a high proportion of open, bare ground where competition is at a relatively low level. It can become a troublesome weed in fertile, cultivated fields and gardens, especially if there are periods of neglect. In Fermanagh, it is very regularly found on lakeshores, but never on very wet or strongly acidic soils. It is also quite frequent in fairly dry, or even decidedly dry situations, such as occur over limestone, or in the crevices of old walls.

The established strategy of L. communis is categorised as R/CR, ie intermediate between a straight Ruderal and a Competitive-ruderal ecological strategy (Grime et al. 1988, 2007).

Variation

There is sufficient variation within Lapsana communis s.l. to distinguish two subspecies, the entirely annual form being subsp. communis with lateral segments of leaves not as wide as terminal ones, capitula 10-20 mm in diameter and involucral bracts 5-7(-8) mm: ligules about 1.5 times the length of inner involucral bracts. This is the common and widespread form of the plant in B & I.

The alternative form in Britain is subsp. intermedia (M. Bieb.) Hayek, which can be either an annual, biennial or a perennial herb: lateral segments of leaves about as wide as terminal ones, capitula much larger, 25-30 mm in diameter, involucral bracts 7-10 mm, and with flower ligules up to 2.5 times as long as the inner involucral bracts (Sell 1981; Sell & Murrell 2006). This latter form has been introduced from the SE Mediterranean and has only been recorded in a few sites in southern England.

Fermanagh occurrence

L. communis is common and widespread everywhere in Fermanagh, except on deep acid peat or on high, exposed ground. It has been recorded in 369 tetrads, 69.9% of those in the VC.

Flowering reproduction

Nipplewort relies entirely on seed for its reproduction. The branched inflorescence of Nipplewort is ± flat-topped (ie corymbose or corymb-like) and the small flower-heads or capitula are only 10-20 mm across. They are nipple-shaped in bud, each capitula containing between two and 21 ligulate, strap-like, pale lemon-yellow, bisexual florets, with a mean of 14.44 (Salisbury 1942). He also counted the number of capitula on 122 individual plants and found the total varied hugely, from seven to 585 per plant, with an average of 64. The capitula have two rows of few involucral bracts, inner and outer, and they are green and contain milky latex, visible when bruised (Hutchinson 1972).

L. communis is unusual among yellow members of the Asteraceae (= Compositae), in that the achenes have no feathery or hairy pappus at all and there are no chaffy scales between the florets either (McClintock & Fitter 1956). The achenes are oval, closely lined with greenish nerves, 3.5-5.0 mm, and slightly flattened (Melderis & Bangerter 1955; Sell & Murrell 2006).

Plants flower from June to September; the flowers open only in bright light from around 7.00 am to 3.00 pm, if weather conditions are favourable. They are pollinated by small bees and flies (Clapham et al. 1962). In the absence of insects or in bad weather the flowers are said to regularly self-pollinate (Muller 1883; Hutchinson 1972).

Each plant can produce up to 1000 achenes (Salisbury 1942; Grime et al. 1988, 2007). Previously it was believed that the seeds only had a limited (transient) survival in the soil seed bank (Salisbury 1964), but the survey of seed banks of NW Europe found that seed survived for more than one year and some of it was long-term persistent (ie survived more than five years soil burial) (Thompson et al. 1997).

The seeds or achenes are relatively large and heavy (1.27 mg) and in this species, being without a pappus, they have no obvious means of dispersal. The involucre of bracts around the flowers is tubular and never expands: it simply becomes dry, so that the eventually detached achenes are thrown out of the cup-like involucre on its long stalk by the wind, probably just one or two at a time (Ridley 1930). Thus L. communis disperses only in very small steps and very slowly. Ridley observed a spread in his garden of hardly a couple of yards [m] in a dozen years, yet he also noted it growing on walls, "5 feet [1.5 m] from the ground, where it must have been blown upwards". He also observed achenes being secondarily dispersed by rainwater flowing along paths and over bare ground (Ridley 1930).

British and Irish occurrence

L. communis s.l. is common and widespread throughout lowland B & I and is considered native. At the hectad level of mapping, it really is absent only from high altitudes in the Scottish mountains (above 480 m) and in the far north of Scotland. There has not been any discernible change in its presence at the hectad level of discrimination since the 1960s, but it is probably better recorded in Ireland than was previously the case (F.H. Perring and K.J. Walker, in: Strohl et al. 2023).

European and world occurrence

A member of the European temperate phytogeographical element, widespread across temperate Europe, parts of N Africa and as far east as C Asia, and probably indigenous in C & SE of the continent, L. communis has spread northwards to 70^oN along with human settlement and farming. It has also managed to spread to oceanic islands including Greenland, Iceland, the Canaries and Madeira, and has been introduced to N America, Australia and New Zealand (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1918). It clearly owes much of its distribution to human agency.

It has probably been transported as seed impurity of cereals of which it is one of the main weeds (eg in Finland), along with Chenopodium album (Fat-hen), Galeopsis spp. (Hemp-nettles) and Stellaria media (Common Chickweed). The leaves – although they are bitter or radish-like in taste – have been used as a salad and as a green, spinach-like vegetable, so it is conceivable that introduction might sometimes be deliberate (Lightfoot 1777; Mabey 1972).

Names and herbal medicinal uses

The genus name 'Lapsana' originated as one given by Dioscorides to a potherb or salad plant, or possibly more likely Raphanus raphanistrum (Wild Radish), which is still called 'Lampsana' in Apulia, SE Italy (Gilbert-Carter 1964). The English common name 'Nipplewort' is a translation by Parkinson (1640) of 'Papillaris', the name given to the plant by Prussian apothecaries, who, following the so-called 'Doctrine of Signatures' believed the resemblance of the naked flower buds to human nipples indicated that the plant was able to heal ulcers on them (Grigson 1955, 1987).

As many as nine other common names for L. communis are listed by Grigson (1955, 1987), but of these, the current author (RSF) can only make sense of the Scottish name, 'Bolgan-leaves'. 'Bolgan' is a Scottish word for a swelling that develops into a pimple (Britten & Holland 1886) and is thus more or less equivalent to a swollen nipple, such as is suffered by nursing mothers!

In Ireland, L. communis has been recorded in folk medicine as being applied in places like Co Wexford and Co Tipperary to assist the healing of cuts, bruises or burns (Allen & Hatfield 2004). L. communis is now regarded as having no medicinal qualities whatsoever.

Threats

None.

References

• Find out more about the format of the species accounts
• View abbreviations
• View references for all species accounts
• View a gazetteer of all the sites