Botany Photo of the Day

For local readers, just a reminder that the Perennial Plant Sale at UBC BG is coming up on Sunday. This particular Epimedium won't be there, but I noticed there were several others on the list of plants for sale in 2008.

Thank you to Connor for both today's photograph and write-up!

Epimedium grandiflorum is a member of the Berberidaceae and is native to China, Korea, and parts of Japan. Its silky white petals and sepals with a retreating border of purple give this flower a particular elegance. On a breezy day the entire inflorescence stirs in unanimous agitation. Common names for this plant are barrenwort and yin yang huo.

This genus has been featured twice before - Epimedium × versicolor 'Sulphureum' and Epimedium acuminatum -- but I'm pleased to be able to add something not previously mentioned. A quick search of Epimedium yields a number or results using the common name horny goatweed. A small stretch of the imagination provides the requisite myth behind this common name, involving goats and an observant farmer (see Epimedium via Wikipedia).

Epimedium grandiflorum has been used in traditional Chinese herbal medicine for many purposes the most prominent, and probably suspect, as an aphrodisiac (Plants For A Future lists 8 uses of this plant). Despite innumerable websites selling Epimedium grandiflorum extracts in the form of pills, sprays, and ointments, I was unable to find any real evidence for this alleged use. Research with rats, however, indicates that barrenwort may be a possible preventative medicine for osteoporosis, as a complement or alternative to hormone treatment in older women. In The osteoprotective effect of Herba epimedii (HEP) extract in vivo and in vitro (PDF), Xie et al. look at the mechanism by which Epimedium extracts could possibly help reduce bone loss.