Alpine hornwort

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Alpine hornwort
Cerastium alpinum 003.jpg

Alpine Hornwort ( Cerastium alpinum )

Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family : Carnation family (Caryophyllaceae)
Subfamily : Alsinoideae
Genre : Horn herbs ( Cerastium )
Type : Alpine hornwort
Scientific name
Cerastium alpinum
L.

The alpine hornwort ( Cerastium alpinum ) is a species of the genus hornwort ( Cerastium ) within the carnation family (Caryophyllaceae).

description

Illustration from Atlas of the Alpine Flora, 1882
Cerastium alpinum subsp. lanatum

The Alpine Hornwort is a perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 6 to 20 centimeters. It grows loosely with non-blooming, rosette-like shoots. The above-ground parts of the plant have many hairs 1 to 1.5 millimeters long and isolated glandular hairs. More rarely they are bald ( indument ). The opposite leaves are ovate to lanceolate and 1.5 to four times as long as they are wide.

The flowering period extends from July to September. The inflorescence contains only one to three flowers. The flower stalk is 4 to 20 millimeters long. The hermaphroditic flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five sepals are usually hairy glandular. The five petals are edged and with a length of 14 to 18 millimeters about twice as long as the mostly glandular sepals. There are five styluses.

The capsule is ten-toothed and about as long to twice as long as the sepals.

The number of chromosomes of the species is 2n = 72, less often 36, 90, 104 + 2 or 108.

Occurrence

The Alpine Hornwort is widespread from Europe via Iceland and Greenland to Canada . It is rare in the Western Alps and is lacking in some areas. Otherwise it is very rare in Central Europe , but mostly conspicuous at its locations.

The Alpine Hornwort thrives best on humus rich, dry, lime-poor soils . It also thrives in crevices, on wind-swept ridges and in stony, dry lawns and mats. It is a character species of the Elynetum from the Elynion association.

It prefers altitudes between 1800 and 2500 meters. In the Allgäu Alps, the summit of the Hochrappenkopf in Bavaria rises up to 2,420 m above sea level.

Systematics

The hornwort belongs to a group of closely related and sometimes difficult to separate species. These include Cerastium aleuticum , Cerastium alpinum , Cerastium arcticum , Cerastium beeringianum , Cerastium bialynickii , Cerastium fischerianum , Cerastium glabratum , Cerastium regulii and Cerastium terrae-novae . Cerastium alpinum differs from all other of these species by its hairiness consisting of long, silvery, translucent, multicellular and curved hairs.

Some authors distinguish three subspecies. Other authors think they should be better classified as varieties:

  • Cerastium alpinum subsp. alpinum : It occurs in Northern Europe, in Greenland and in Canada. The number of chromosomes is 2n = 72 or 108.
  • Cerastium alpinum subsp. lanatum (Lam.) Ces. (Syn .: Cerastium alpinum var. Lanatum (Lam.) Hegetschw. ): It occurs in Europe, in Greenland and in Canada. The number of chromosomes is 2n = 72, 104 + 2 or 108.
  • Cerastium alpinum subsp. squalidum (Ramond) Hultén (Syn .: Cerastium alpinum var. squalidum (Ramond) Rico ex Muñoz Garm. & Pedrol ): It occurs in the Pyrenees.

literature

  • Otto Schmeil , Jost Fitschen (greeting), Siegmund Seybold: The flora of Germany and the neighboring countries. A book for identifying all wild and frequently cultivated vascular plants. 95th completely revised u. exp. Edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01498-2 .
  • Henning Haeupler , Thomas Muer: picture atlas of the fern and flowering plants of Germany (= the fern and flowering plants of Germany. Volume 2). 2nd, corrected and enlarged edition. Published by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8001-4990-2 .
  • Eckehart J. Jäger (ed.): Excursion flora from Germany. Vascular plants: baseline . Founded by Werner Rothmaler. 20th, revised and expanded edition. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8274-1606-3 .
  • Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The flowering plants of Central Europe . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : Yew family to butterfly family . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08048-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition, page 378. Stuttgart, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 2001. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 378.
  2. ↑ a b c Cerastium alpinum at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  3. ↑ a b c d e f John K. Morton: Cerastium Linnaeus. In: Flora of North America, vol. 5. [1] .
  4. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 500.
  5. ↑ a b c Jaakko Jalas, Juha Suominen: Atlas florae europaeae . Volume 6 (Caryophyllaceae (Alsinoideae and Paronychioideae)). Page 98, Helsinki 1983. ISBN 951-9108-05-X

Web links

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