Ascending foxtail

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ascending foxtail
Amaranthus lividus (6896677687) .jpg

Soaring foxtail ( Amaranthus blitum )

Systematics
Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family : Foxtail family (Amaranthaceae)
Subfamily : Amaranthoideae
Genre : Amaranth ( Amaranthus )
Subgenus : Albersia
Type : Ascending foxtail
Scientific name
Amaranthus blitum
L.

The soaring foxtail ( Amaranthus blitum ) is a species of plant from the genus Amaranthus ( Amaranthus ) within the family of the foxtail plants (Amaranthaceae). The leaves are eaten as a vegetable.

Inflorescence (detail) with female and male flowers
Fruit cluster
Fruits with seeds

description

Vegetative characteristics

The soaring foxtail is an annual herbaceous plant with heights of up to 100 cm. The compressed to elongated, simple or branched stem is bare. The alternate and spirally arranged leaves are 1 to 10 cm long with stalk. The simple and green to slightly purple leaf blade is angular and ovoid with a length of 1 to 10 cm and a width of 0.5 to 6 cm and has branched leaf veins . There are no stipules .

Generative characteristics

The ascending foxtail is single-sexed ( monoecious ). The unisexual flowers are clustered into mixed, clustered inflorescences in the leaf axils. The three, rarely five bracts are only about 1.5 mm long. Male flowers have three stamens . Female flowers have a top permanent ovary with one ovule and two to three scars.

The round to elliptical capsule fruits with a diameter of about 2 mm tear irregularly at maturity to release the individual seed.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 34.

Dissemination and use

The soaring foxtail has a cosmopolitan distribution across the tropical and temperate zones of the world. The area of ​​origin of the species is assumed to be in the Mediterranean area .
As a useful plant, it is mainly grown in East and Central Africa , the origin of domestication is believed to be in India . The seeds are used like those of some other species of the amaranth genus such as cereals. The leaves are used fresh or dried as vegetables.

History

The soaring foxtail is an old cultivated plant that has already been proven in the pile dwellings and thus represents a cultural relic and an archaeophyte . The plant, which is native to the Mediterranean area, is now carried around the world. Of Theophrastus an attached is vegetables "bliton" or "blitum" called. In the “ Capitulare de villis ” of Charlemagne, the plant is called “blidas”. Because of the laborious harvest and poor quality, it was replaced by spinach in German-speaking countries as early as the 16th century .

Systematics

Amaranthus blitum subsp. oleraceus

The first publication of Amaranthus blitum successes in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum , 2, p 990 Synonyms for Amaranthus blitum L. are: Amaranthus ascendens Loisel. , Amaranthus blitum var. Polygonoides Boq. , Amaranthus lividus L. , Amaranthus lividus subsp. polygonoides (Moq.) Probst , Amaranthus lividus var. ascendens (Loisel.) Hayw. & Druce , Amaranthus lividus var. Ascendens Thell. , Amaranthus lividus var. Polygonoides (MOQ.) Thell. , Euxolus ascendens (Loisel.) H. Hara , Euxolus viridis var. Ascendens (Loisel.) Moq.

Amaranthus blitum belongs to the subgenus Albersia from the genus Amaranthus .

Various subspecies and cultivated varieties are known, which differ in stem morphology , petal shape and leaf color. In Europe there are:

  • Amaranthus blitum subsp. emarginatus (Moq. ex Uline & Bray) Carretero et al. (Syn .: Amaranthus emarginatus Moq. Ex Uline & Bray ) - stems stretched flat to ascending, thin, wine-colored to deep purple, hardly fluted; Petals broadly spatulate, blunt.
  • Amaranthus blitum subsp. oleraceus (L.) Costea - stems ascending to erect, strong and often hollow, furrowed, pale to whitish; Leaves pale green with whitish veins. This variety is cultivated as a vegetable in China , India , etc.
  • Amaranthus blitum L. subsp. blitum - stems stretched flat to ascending, thin, wine-colored to deep purple, hardly ridged; Leaves green to reddish; Petals thinly spatulate, often pointed.
  • Amaranthus blitum subsp. blitum var. lividus - stem erect, strong and often hollow, furrowed; whole plant dark reddish, purple to almost black, leaves green or purple with purple veins.

There are also:

  • Amaranthus blitum subsp. emarginatus var. pseudogracilis (Thell.) Costea

Common names

Other names for the rising foxtail, some of which are only used regionally, are or were: Blutkraut ( Silesia ), Blutmayer (Silesia), Strawberry Spinach ( Bern ), Flöhkraut ( Bernese Oberland ), Maier , Rautrich (Sommerfeld), Rotbuckeln ( Zurich ), Stur ( East Prussia ) and Tausendschön .

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 355.
  2. ↑ First publication scanned at biodiversitylibrary.org .
  3. ↑ Amaranthus blitum at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  4. ↑ a b Amaranthus blitum in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
  5. ↑ A. Thellt: Amaranthus . In: P. Ascherson & P. ​​Graebner (eds.): Synopsis of the Central European Flora. , Vol 5/1. Borntraeger, Leipzig 1914.
  6. ↑ P. Aellen: Amaranthus . In: TG Tutin, VH Heywood, NA Burges, DH Valentine, SM Walters, DA Webb (eds.): Flora Europaea, Volume 1: Lycopodiaceae to Platanaceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1964, p. 110 (as A. lividus ).
  7. ↑ J. Walter, Ch. Dobeš: Morphological characters, geographic distribution and ecology of neophytic Amaranthus blitum L. subsp. emarginatus in Austria . In: Annals of the Natural History Museum Vienna . 105B, 2004, p. 645-672 .
  8. ^ Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants , published by Philipp Cohen Hanover 1882, page 23

Web links

Commons : Ascending Foxtail ( Amaranthus blitum )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files