Sigesbeckia is an annual herb from the Asteraceae family that grows approximately 1 metre high. There are three species used in traditional medicine for joint and muscle pain,\u00a0Sigesbeckia orientalis<\/em>,\u00a0Sigesbeckia pubescens<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Sigesbeckia glabracens<\/em>, although the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, only recognised two species, with\u00a0S. pubescens<\/em>\u00a0considered a subspecies of\u00a0S. orientalis<\/em>. \u00a0Sigesbeckia orientalis<\/em>\u00a0and its subspecies\u00a0pubescens<\/em>\u00a0are the most commonly used medicinally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] The name of the plant has an interesting background story. \u00a0In the 1700s, Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist formalised the naming system\u00a0for organisms with a system called binomial nomenclature. \u00a0His work led him to be known by the epithet \u201cthe father of modern taxonomy\u201d. \u00a0Linnaeus\u2019 new classification system for plants was based on plant\u2019s sexual organs, namely the stamens and pistils. \u00a0This system was not well received in many circles as it was felt to be \u2018unnatural\u2019, and the Pope even forbade the introduction of Linnaeus\u2019 works to the Vatican library. \u00a0One of the critics of Linnaeus\u2019 work was the German doctor and botanist Johann Georg Siegesbeck who felt the system was \u2018repugnant and immoral\u2019. \u00a0Siegesbeck tried to refute Linnaeus\u2019 sexual system, but couldn\u2019t back up his arguments with sound scholastic arguments.<\/p>\n One of Linnaeus\u2019 ideas in his work\u00a0Critica Botanica<\/em>\u00a0is that there should be a link between the plant and the botanist after whom it was named. \u00a0For example, magnolia has \u2018handsome leaves and flowers, which recalls the splendid botanist Magnol\u2019, whilst \u2018Dorstenia has insignificant flowers, faded past their prime like the work of Dorsten. \u00a0It is not surprising therefore that in the classification book\u00a0Hortus Cliffortianus<\/em>\u00a0that Linnaeus had named a little stinking weed Siegesbeckia.<\/p>\n Whilst some authors still refer to the plant as Siegesbeckia, the correct spelling of the genus, according to The Royal Botanical Gardens (Kew), is Sigesbeckia.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text] Sigesbeckia is an annual herb from the Asteraceae family that grows approximately 1 metre high. There are three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigesbeckia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigesbeckia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigesbeckia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigesbeckia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigesbeckia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sigesbeckia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15,"href":"https:\/\/sigesbeckia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigesbeckia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/flower-and-leave-portrait-square.jpg\")
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\nThe branches are covered purple-brownish hairs, as are the triangular leaves, which gives it its subspecies name pubescens. It has yellow tongue-shaped flowers that appear in late summer and early autumn. \u00a0Its full scientific name is Sigesbeckia orientalis L. subsp. pubescens (Makino) H.Koyama, but it is more commonly known as Sigesbeckia, St Paul\u2019s wort and in some circles as \u2018pig pungent weed\u2019.<\/p>\n![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/3-species-of-Sigesbeckia-in-Britain.jpg\")
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