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Agrimony
	Agrimonia eupatoria
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae;
Phylum:	Magnoliophyta;
Class:	Magnoliopsida;
Order:	Rosales;
Family:	Rosaceae;
Subfamily:	Rosoideae;
Tribe:	Sanguisorbeae;
Subtribe:	Agrimoniinae;
Genus:	Agrimonia; Tourn. ex L.
Species
	About 15 species; see text

Agrimony (Agrimonia) is a genus of 12-15 species of perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with one species also in Africa. The species grow to between 0.5-2 m tall, with interrupted pinnate leaves, and yellow flowers borne on a single (usually unbranched) spike.

Agrimonia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Grizzled Skipper (recorded on A. eupatoria) and Large Grizzled Skipper.

Species

Agrimonia eupatoria - Common Agrimony (Europe, Asia, Africa)
Agrimonia gryposepala - Tall Hairy Agrimony (North America)
Agrimonia incisa - Incised Agrimony (North America)
Agrimonia coreana - Korean Agrimony (eastern Asia)
Agrimonia microcarpa - Smallfruit Agrimony (North America)
Agrimonia nipponica - Japanese Agrimony (eastern Asia)
Agrimonia parviflora - Harvestlice Agrimony (North America)
Agrimonia pilosa - Hairy Agrimony (eastern Europe, Asia)
Agrimonia procera - Fragrant Agrimony (Europe)
Agrimonia pubescens - Soft Agrimony (North America)
Agrimonia repens - Short Agrimony (southwest Asia)
Agrimonia rostellata - Beaked Agrimony (North America)
Agrimonia striata - Roadside Agrimony (North America)

[edit] Medicinal value

Historically, the plants were thought to have medicinal value. Thus in floriography, Agrimony flowers take on a meaning of thankfulness.

Bald's Leechbook cites Agrimony as a cure for male impotence - when boiled in milk, it could excite a man who was "insufficiently virile;" when boiled in Welsh beer it would have the opposite effect.^[1]

[edit] See also

Aremonia (Bastard-agrimony, a related genus)

[edit] References

^ Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger August:The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium Little, Brown, 2000 ISBN 0316511579

Eriksson, Torsten; Malin S. Hibbs, Anne D. Yoder, Charles F. Delwiche, Michael J. Donoghue (2003). The Phylogeny of Rosoideae (Rosaceae) Based on Sequences of the Internal Transcribed Spacers (ITS) of Nuclear Ribosomal DNA and the TRNL/F Region of Chloroplast DNA. International Journal of Plant Science 164(2):197–211. 2003. (PDF version)