Maltese sponge
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Maltese sponge ( Cynomorium coccineum ) |
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| Cynomorium coccineum | ||||||||||||
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Maltese sponge ( Cynomorium coccineum ) is a rare plant species and a full parasite (holoparasite). It is one of two species in the genus Cynomorium , which is the only genus in the Cynomoriaceae family . The systematic affiliation of this family to the Saxifragales was only clarified by molecular data in 2016
description
The Maltese sponge is a reddish-brown, phalloid-mushroom-like, about 15 to 30 cm tall plant without chlorophyll . It parasitizes on the roots of salt bushes and coastal plants. In addition to the sprouts that appear at flowering time, the plant consists of an underground, branched rhizome .
The shoot ends in a terminal brown-red inflorescence. The individual flowers are in the axils of triangular scale leaves. The unisexual flowers have bracts that are reduced to lobed appendages. The male flowers contain only one stamen .
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 28.
Occurrence
In addition to the Fungus Rock in front of the Maltese island of Gozo , the Maltese sponge is found in Italy . B. in Sicily on the west coast in the nature reserve Riserva naturale orientata Saline di Trapani e Paceco and on the large ponds of Marsala , in the National Park La Maddalena Archipelago off Sardinia and on the island of Lampedusa .
Other deposits can be found in the south of Corsica , in Oman , Morocco and in Spain , for example in the Parque Natural de Gata-Nijar in the hinterland of Almería , in the Parque Natural de la Bahia de Cádiz . Cynomorium coccineum thrives in salt marshes and maritime sands.
use
In the 16th and 17th centuries it was the panacea of the great Maltese hospital in Valletta . The dark red extract of the Cynomorium coccineum was used in the treatment of wounds, bleeding and injuries, but was also used as an aphrodisiac . In the 17th and 18th centuries, when the order succeeded in selling the extract for horrific sums to the European royal houses, the plant also gained economic importance. The Maltese jealously guarded the plant and even erected a watchtower on the coast at the beginning of the 18th century. The rock could only be reached in a basket that was pulled back and forth on ropes between Gozo and the island over a distance of 35 m .
However, the medicinal effectiveness of the plant has not been proven.
literature
- Hermann von Guttenberg: Balanophora studies . In: Planta (Berlin) . tape 34 , no. 2 , 1945, ISSN 0032-0935 , p. 192-220 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01917056 .
- Ehrentraud Bayer, Karl Peter Buttler, Xaver Finkenzeller, Jürke Grau: Plants of the Mediterranean (= Steinbach's natural guide . Volume 17 ). Mosaik, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-570-01347-2 , p. 18 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bellot, S., N. Cusimano, G. Sun, SX. Luo, S. Zarre, A. Gröger, E. Temsch, and SS Renner. 2016. Assembled plastid and mitochondrial genomes, as well as nuclear genes, place the parasite family Cynomoriaceae in the Saxifragales. In: Genome Biology and Evolution Vol. 8, No. 7, pp. 2214-2230, doi: 10.1111 / j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x .
- ↑ Cynomorium coccineum at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ F.-C. Czygan: Flora under the Maltese cross . In: Deutsche Apothekerzeitung . No. 51 , 1999, p. 52 ( online ). Compare F. Freller: Fungus Melitensis, a legendary medicinal plant. Pharm. Ztg. 142, 4612-4614 (1997)
