Paronychia (plant)

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
Paronychia argentea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Genus: Paronychia
Mill.
Species

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

References
  1. 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.
  2. "Paronychia argentea Lam". Plants For A Future.
  3. "Paronychia argyrocoma (Michx.) Nutt. - silvery nailwort". Natural Resources Conservation Services, United States Department of Agriculture.
  4. "Paronychia palaestina Eig | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science".
  5. "Paronychia virginica Spreng. – yellow nailwort". Natural Resources Conservation Services, United States Department of Agriculture.
Wikispecies has information related to Paronychia.


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