Fagonia


Fagonia is a genus of wild, flowering plants in the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae, having about 35 species. Species occurring in the US are commonly referred to as fagonbushes. The distribution of the genus includes parts of Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Mid-East, India, and parts of the Americas. Fagonia species have been used ethnobotanically by traditional practitioners under Ayurvedic and other healing regimes for many maladies. Species occur in deserts, dry washes, ditches and on rocky outcrops, including at altitude.
Fagonia laevis is a perennial herb of the United States desert southwest. It has opposite leaves, trifoliate with spinescent stipules, a pink corolla and smooth fruits. Under cultivation, F. indica has been found to have a long taproot and to its growth slowing where temperatures dipped below 65 F.
Commercial Fagonia products available on the web should be viewed with caution by reason of there being little to no authentication as to species contained therein, based on DNA analysis. It may be that all Fagonia species contain medicinal compounds but that had to be established as of 2015. Research carried out in 2014 in Pakistan found that all six Pakistani Fagonia species, both the verified and unverified ones, were represented in commercial Fagonia products in the Islamabad marketplace. Plant systematists caution that species other than Fagonia, as well as other, unrelated material, can be present in commercial preparations.
Numerous scientific papers cite Fagonia cretica as the species studied. However, due to the re-ordering of Fagonia species by Beier in 2005, researchers have found that they have actually been studying another Fagonia species, instead, most commonly, Fagonia indica.

Species

, Plants of the World Online accepts the following species: