Dioscorides' Plants, Then and Now
πόλιον

Felty germander

Teucrium capitatum L. · Lamiaceae
Identification: CertainNot endemic to GreeceConservation status not assessedLow-confidence model
Risk rank
15 of 32 (11–15)
Risk score
0.30(0.30–0.30)2 · Moderate
Low-confidence modelFelty germander (Teucrium capitatum) has 634 occurrence records after cleaning; we require 30 for a reliable model. Maps are exploratory outlines only, and its rank carries a wide interval (11–15).

Then and now

2050 · moderate emissions. SSP2-4.5, 2041-2060, 3 climate models; ranges show the spread.

The plant
πόλιον
Photograph of Teucrium capitatum
Teucrium capitatum, one of the species pooled for this plant. Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (photo of Felty germander)
2050 · moderate emissions
Natural Earth (PD) · model output · ~10 km cells
Loading map layers (0 of 1)
Layers
Range keptLost by 2050Gained by 2050Cultivation zoneNatura 2000Occurrence cellCells ≈ 10 × 10 km

Exploratory map (low-confidence model). Occurrences are aggregated to ~10 km cells; exact points are never published. View range data as a table

De Materia Medica · Book III · ch. 110c. 50–70 CE
πόλιον
polion
πόλιον· τὸ μέν ἐστιν ὀρεινόν, ὃ καὶ τεύθριον καλεῖται, οὗ καὶ ἡ χρῆσις. θαμνίον δέ ἐστι λευκόν, λεπτόφυλλον, σπιθαμιαῖον, καρποῦ πλῆρες …
Modern identification
Teucrium capitatumL. · LamiaceaeCertain

Greek records of 'T. polium' refer to T. capitatum (Dimopoulos et al. 2013), so both names are pooled. Source: Sprengel 1830, vol. 2, p. 544; Fraas 1845, p. 173; Osbaldeston 2000.

Full citation and quoted evidence

Sprengel 1830, vol. 2, p. 544 (Comm. III cap. CXIV): 'Teucrium Polium πολίου nomine intelligi, in confesso est, Matthiolo, ni fallor, id primo probante.' The second, more shrubby and less strong-smelling kind is disputed: Matthiolus Teucrium montanum (rejected), Sprengel 'Teucrium potius creticum L., s. rosmarinifolium Lam.' Note: Sprengel's 'Teucrium polium' is the broad Linnaean sense; the Greek populations are now T. capitatum L. (nomenclatural mapping is ours, not Sprengel's). 'certain' applies to the first (mountain) kind only. Fraas 1845, p. 173: 'T. Polium L., grauer Gamander. Ist wohlriechend!' = πόλιον Hippocr., Theophr. 1,16, Diosc. 3,114; 'T. capitatum. Ist höher und riecht nicht.' = πόλιον τὸ θαμνωδέστερον καὶ ἀδρανέστερον Diosc. l.c. (i.e. Fraas names T. capitatum for Dioscorides' SECOND, shrubbier, weaker kind); both common on dry plains and hills to 3000 ft (p. 173-174). Osbaldeston 2000, ch. 3-124 POLION: SUGGESTED Teucrium polium. (https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_dioscsprengelx02/page/n545/mode/1up ; https://archive.org/details/synopsisplantaru00fraa/page/n218/mode/1up)

Opening words of the chapter (Wellmann numbering). Edition: Wellmann, Pedanii Dioscuridis Anazarbei De materia medica, vol. II (Berlin 1906), p. 121; read off the archive.org page image (item b21459162_0002) and cross-checked against two OCR layers; ϑ printed as θ. See the page scan.

No European Medicines Agency herbal monograph for this species.

Projected range change by 2050

2050 · moderate (SSP2-4.5)+97% (+85 to +103%)
2050 · high (SSP5-8.5)+113% (+94 to +122%)

Median and spread across 3 climate models. Whisker axis −80% to +20%, dashed tick at 0; a chevron means the value runs beyond the axis.

Suitable cultivation area, 2050 moderate0 km² (0–0 km²)

Risk score breakdown

0.30 (0.30–0.30)Moderate risk class 2
00.51.0
  • Range loss 0.00 of max 0.40 · (0.00–0.00)
  • Endemism 0.00 of max 0.20 · not endemic
  • Conservation status 0.10 of max 0.20 · not assessed
  • Harvest pressure 0.20 of max 0.20

Stays in the top 10 in 3% of 1,000 random weightings.

How the score is built, and how sensitive it is to weights

Model quality

Low grade
AUC (spatial block CV)
0.75 ± 0.03
Distance-only baseline AUC
0.75 ours is not higher (by < 0.005)
Boyce index
0.93 ± 0.03
TSS
0.39 ± 0.05
Occurrence records
634 after cleaning (of 1,015)

5-fold spatial block cross-validation (~25 km blocks); ± is one standard deviation across folds. Null model AUC 0.47. The baseline scores each held-out point by its distance to the nearest training record, on the same folds. "Standard" grade means ≥ 30 records, AUC ≥ 0.75 and above the baseline; fewer than 10 records is a data gap; anything else is low grade.

Suggested action

Monitor

Stable or expanding; keep watching harvest and status. Resolve the data first.

Rule: Gains or keeps habitat · no 2050 cultivation zone.

See the action plan

Identification through time

Who has matched πόλιον to which modern plant, from the Renaissance to today.

All names through time
Cited for the identification we modelProposed an alternativeAlternative preferred by our sourceAlternative rejected by our sourceCommonly proposed, not verified by us
Renaissance commentators
Linnaean botany & Flora Graeca
Edition
Modern
150016001700180019002000

Select a mark to read who proposed which plant, and the source we read it in.

Dates are each authority's main herbal or commentary (approximate, "c."), used to order the timeline. Claims are parsed from our curated identification table; every quote links back to a page scan or edition on the plant page.

Caveats

  • Low-confidence model: 634 thinned records (we require 30) or AUC below 0.75.
  • Greek records of 'T. polium' refer to T. capitatum (Dimopoulos et al. 2013), so both names are pooled.

Range data (map alternative)

ScenarioSuitable ~10 km cellsChangeShare in Natura 2000
Now965—22.3%
2050 moderate1,442 (1,411–1,492)+97% (+85 to +103%)25% (24–25%)
2050 high1,530 (1,413–1,555)+113% (+94 to +122%)25% (25–26%)