Scandix pecten-veneris L., Shepherd's-needle

Account Summary

Growth form and preferred habitats

Descriptions of this species vary so widely from book to book that the current author (RSF) has decided to give a comprehensive compilation, based mainly on the outstanding, detailed description provided in the excellent Flora of Cyprus (Meikle 1977).

A winter annual, therophyte herb with a tapering taproot and fibrous side-roots; stems 4-30(-50) cm tall, usually much branched, erect or spreading, glabrous or nearly so, becoming hollow when old, branched and leafy. Basal leaves numerous, narrowly deltoid, 1-10 cm long, 2-3-pinnate, the ultimate segments linear or lanceolate acute or obtuse at apex, on slender petioles often exceeding 10 cm. Stem leaves few and smaller, with fine, almost linear segments. Flowering May-August (but mainly May & June), inflorescence composed of few (3-8)-flowered simple umbels, each with 1-3 rays, the terminal umbel bearing white, bisexual, 5 mm diameter flowers, the lateral umbels with varying proportions of male and bisexual flowers. Sepals absent or five, very small if present; petals five, very unequal, the outer ones often radiate; stamens five, filaments 1 mm long, white, anthers cream; ovary linear-subulate, 3-4 mm long, stylopodium flattened with an undulate margin, usually tinged purple, styles two, about 1 mm long, erect, stigmas truncate (Meikle 1977; Sell & Murrell 2009).

Pollinated by unspecified insects (Fitter 1987). Schizocarp fruit, 3-7 cm long, ± cylindrical, with a distinct, flattened beak with rough ridges, 3-5 times as long as the seed-bearing portion. When ripe, the fruit splits in half with a violent jerk. Around the base of the umbel of flowers is a whorl of small leaves which after fertilisation enlarge and become lobed (Salisbury 1964; Tutin 1980; Sell & Murrell 2009).

Fermanagh and Irish occurrence

Until around 1900, S. pecten-veneris was a quite common annual, arable weed in Ireland on disturbed soils that dry out in summer, often on heavy, calcareous clays. Recorded only once in Fermanagh at Portora School by one of the teachers, in the Revised Typescript Flora, Meikle et al. (1975) described S. pectin-veneris as, "hardly more than casual". According to the Cen Cat Fl Ir 2 it was previously recorded from all Irish VCs except W Cork (H3) and W Mayo (H27). It is now presumed extinct throughout Ireland, having last been seen in NI in 1972 on sand dunes at Murlough Bay, N Antrim (H39) (Curtis & McGough 1988; Beesley 2006).

British occurrence

Until around 1950, S. pectin-veneris was much more common and locally abundant in Britain in and especially around chalky arable fields, to the extent that it could sometimes impede mechanical harvesting. It was also known to occur in a number of semi-natural sites on coastal screes, perhaps representing a form of refugium away from cultivated ground more akin to its natural habitat in warmer parts of S Europe including the Mediterranean basin (A. Smith, in: Stewart et al. 1994).

The main period of germination of this annual species is in the autumn, from October to early November, followed by a much smaller crop of spring seedlings. The autumn seedlings are often eradicated by pre-sowing cultivation associated with winter cereals, seasonal crops to which S. pectin-veneris oddly seemed to be almost entirely restricted. The spectacular decline of this arable weed since about 1930, but accelerating from 1955 onwards, is thought to be largely due to its low level of seed dormancy (ie transient – persists for less than one year) (A. Smith, in: Stewart et al. 1994; Thompson et al. 1997), allied with important changes in agricultural practices, including greatly improved seed screening and the widespread use of broad-spectrum selective herbicides (Stace & Crawley 2015).

In Britain, S. pecten-veneris has now largely retreated to an area SE of a line from the Humber to the Severn with occasional plants elsewhere. The species remains occasionally locally abundant in parts of East Anglia (M. Southam, in: Preston et al. 2002; Sell & Murrell 2009). The English decrease mirrors a similar decline of the species in both NW & E Europe.

Species status

Webb (1985) casts doubt on the previously presumed native status of this species in Britain, while in Ireland the plant had long been accepted as a probable or definite accidental introduction, probably arriving with cereal seed. The editors of the New Atlas now recognise it as an archaeophyte throughout B & I. Previously, Stace (1991, 1997) suggested S. pecten-veneris might possibly be native in Britain, but in Stace (2010) he accepted it as an archaeophyte. Sell & Murrell (2009) have not yet accepted the archaeophyte status and continue to consider S. pectin-veneris "possibly native".

The fact that archaeophytes like S. pectin-veneris, that were once common cornfield weeds and were considered thoroughly naturalised, have now very greatly diminished due to cleaner agricultural methods, strongly suggests that they were in fact always only casuals that owed their persistence to constant reintroduction with freshly imported crop seed (Stace & Crawley 2015).

European and world occurrence

The distribution of S. pecten-veneris in Europe is centred on the Mediterranean, extending north to Denmark, casual in Scandinavia, and westwards to B & I. Thus its presence in Ireland was always on the limits of its tolerances and geographical range, the oceanic influence of the Atlantic being much more extremely felt in Ireland than in the E & SE England in particular. Beyond Europe, S. pectin-veneris extends to N Africa, and from SE Asia to the borders of India. In addition to B & I, it is also introduced in S Africa, N & S America, Australia and New Zealand (Sell & Murrell 2009; Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1390). On the Mediterranean isles, S. pectin-veneris is recorded in a much wider range of habitats than simply cultivated and fallow arable fields, being also associated with Olive groves, stony, bare hillsides, rocky places, roadsides, old walls and bare and disturbed ground (Haslam et al. 1977; Meikle 1977; Turland et al. 1993; Press & Short 1994).

Names

The genus name 'Scandix' is an old Greek name for some edible plant. The Latin specific epithet 'pecten-veneris' translates as 'Venus's comb'. In Britain, S. pecten-veneris was first mentioned by Turner (1548) as 'Crine Cheruel', a rather dull name, but the plant does have a resemblance to Chervil before the formation of the needle fruits (Grigson 1955, 1987). The English common name 'Shepherd's Needle' was first used by Lyte (1578), translating the herbalists' Latin 'Acus pastoris', although this and the English common name were both sometimes also applied to Erodium moschatum (Musk Stork's-bill), since that species also possesses long, beak-like fruits (Grigson 1974). Thanks to the peculiar fruit, the plant is remarkable and has earned as many as 50 English common names, although Grigson (1955, 1987) lists only 26, many of which contain mention of needle or needles. Frequent folklore associations are with goblins, the devil and witches (Grigson 1955, 1987). It is rather odd that Vickery (1995, 2019) makes no mention of the species.

Uses

Herbal use is slight, but one report is of 'Adam's Needle', an alternative name for S. pectin-veneris, being used in Co Tipperary to treat toothache (Allen & Hatfield 2004).

Threats

None.

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