Scrophularia buergeriana seed

LATIN NAME: Scrophularia buergeriana

COMMON NAME: Buerger Figwort

The Buerger figwort is a handsome, upright, tall, branching, perennial herb of the moist meadows, and its fine, oval, toothed leaves and its tall, upright, many-branched heads of the many small, two-lipped, greenish-purple or reddish-purple flowers have made it a familiar and fine plant of the region. It grows as an upright, tall, branching, perennial herb, reaching up to one metre or so, with the upright, square, branching stems bearing the opposite, oval, pointed, toothed leaves and, through the summer, the tall, upright, many-branched heads of the many small, two-lipped, greenish-purple or reddish-purple flowers, followed by the small, round, dry, many-seeded capsules. It is a species of the flowering plant in the figwort family, and it is native to the moist meadows of the eastern Asia, while it grows in the open, moist places, and it is known as the Buerger figwort.

In the figwort family it is one of the tall, square-stemmed meadow herbs, a quiet member of a clan better known for the old remedies of the roadside.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The figwort roots have their own long chapter in the traditional plant chemistry of the eastern Asia, and the Buerger species appears in the papers on the root constituents that the old practice of the region has used for the ages. The meadow ecologists have a different interest in the plant, mapping the tall, many-flowered heads as a serious nectar source for the bees and the wasps of the summer meadow, and the botanists have worked out its place among the figworts of the eastern flora. The plant is best appreciated as a subject of study rather than a casual remedy, and the growers of the meadow garden keep it for the insects that crowd its flower heads.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the meadow border, the Buerger figwort is the tall, quiet workhorse of the late summer. Its many small, greenish-purple flowers feed the bees and the wasps for weeks on end, and the upright, leafy stems give the border a bold, natural presence that the wildflower patch loves. The roots carry the long record of traditional use in the region, and the plant asks only for the open, moist ground and a place in the sun. It grows well in the moist, fertile, well-drained soil. Tall, quiet and nectar-rich.

These are small, fine seeds that wake up best in the light — scatter them over the surface of a pot of moist seed compost, press them down gently without burying them, mist the surface and keep the pot in a bright spot, and they will be sprouting freely, each tiny seedling ready to grow into a tower of nectar.