Little burdock

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Little burdock
Little Burdock (Arctium minus)

Little Burdock ( Arctium minus )

Systematics
Order : Astern-like (Asterales)
Family : Daisy family (Asteraceae)
Subfamily : Carduoideae
Tribe : Carduinae
Genre : Burdock ( arctium )
Type : Little burdock
Scientific name
Arctium minus
( Hill ) Bernh.

The Lesser Burdock ( Arctium minus ) is a species of the genus Burdock ( Arctium ) in the family of the daisy family (Asteraceae). It is native to Europe but is also widespread across the United States as an invasive plant .

description

illustration
Section of the entire inflorescence with some flower heads and flowers with two-branched styles
Fruit cluster

Appearance and foliage leaf

The little burdock grows as a biennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of up to 1.5 or 2 meters. It forms a thick taproot that extends up to 30 cm deep into the ground . The vegetative parts of the plant are greenish to reddish purple in color and sparsely covered with spider-like hair or bare. The stem is well branched.

The little burdock has leaves arranged in a basal rosette in the first year and alternately arranged on the stem in the second year . The leaves are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The petiole, covered with spider-like hair, is typically hollow, up to 40 cm long and grooved at the top. The basal leaves are relatively large with a length of up to 60 cm. The lower stem leaves have an egg-shaped leaf blade with a truncated to heart-shaped blade base. The leaf margin is creased to wavy. The stem leaves become smaller towards the top. The upper side of the leaf is dark green and the underside of the leaf is woolly hairy.

Inflorescence, flower and fruit

The little burdock forms inflorescences in the second year of life. The flowering period extends from July to October. The inflorescences are thorny. The bracts are provided with hooks. The almost spherical, cup-shaped inflorescences have a diameter of about 2 cm. Only hermaphroditic tubular flowers are present in the flower heads . The flower color is pink to lavender.

Smooth achenes with a pappus are formed. Fruit ripens from September to October.

Chromosome number

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 32 or 36.

ecology

Auto ecology

The little burdock is like the other species of the genus Arctium s. st. a biennial semi-rosette plant.

Synecology

Hook-shaped bract tip
Habitus

In terms of flower biology, it is the "thistle type". The pollination is done by bees and butterflies .

The spreading unit is the Velcro fruit heads with hooked bract tips and numerous smooth achenes. The baskets, which are largely closed at the time of fruiting, get stuck in the fur of animals and are partly torn off intact, as is the case with Velcro fasteners. Then the Velcro fruits are gradually shaken out. At the beginning of the ripening process, the burdock can still adhere to the plant, but then, when the arid, bulky plant snaps back, eject the fruit and thus become an animal shaker. When it is wet, however, the fruits themselves stick to the animal's skin and thus become more watery. In addition, there is the possibility of the fruit being processed by grain-eating birds such as thistle finches. The pappus of the achenes is fragile and irritates the skin. It is a winter stand . After the inflorescences have dried up and the fruits are ripe, the hooked bracts attach themselves to people or animals in order to transport the entire fruit cluster as a diaspore ( epichory ).

Occurrence

The original distribution area of ​​the Little Burdock includes Europe, Western Asia and the Caucasus, perhaps also Morocco. It is a neophyte in North and South America, the Azores, Australia and New Zealand.

The little burdock thrives best on nitrogen-rich, but rather lime-poor or lime-free, loose, stony loam soils . It inhabits wasteland, banks, fences, roadsides. In general it occurs frequently, only in sandy areas and areas with a harsher climate it can also be absent in small areas. But she avoids high altitudes. In the Allgäu Alps, it occurs in Vorarlberg between Hochtannberg and Körbersee up to an altitude of 1420 meters. Arctium minus is a character species of the association Arction lappae, but also occurs in plant communities of the association Aegopodion podagrariae or, more rarely, of the association Onopordion acanthii.

Taxonomy

The first publication took place under the name ( Basionym ) Lappa minor Hill by John Hill . The new combination to Arctium minus (Hill) Bernh. was published in 1800 by Johann Jakob Bernhardi . More synonyms for Arctium minus (Hill) Bernh. are: Arctium chabertii Briq. & Cavill. , Arctium melanoceps (Beger) GHLoos , Arctium pubens Bab. , Lappa pubens (Bab.) Boreau , Arctium chabertii subsp. aellenianum Arènes , Arctium chabertii subsp. balearicum Arènes , Arctium chabertii subsp. corsicum Arènes , Arctium minus subsp. mediterraneum Arènes , Arctium minus subsp. pubens (Bab.) Arènes , Arctium tomentosum subsp. pubens (Bab.) Nyman , Arctium minus var. melanoceps Beger .

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b data sheet at missouriplants.com : Photographs and descriptions of the flowering and non-flowering plants of Missouri, USA .
  2. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , pp.  960 .
  3. ^ Francis Rose : The Wild Flower Key . Frederick Warne & Co, 1981, ISBN 0-7232-2419-6 , pp. 386-387.
  4. ^ A b Arctium minus in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved on 20168-03-15.
  5. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 2, IHW, Eching 2004, ISBN 3-930167-61-1 , p. 632.
  6. ↑ a b Werner Greuter (2006+): Compositae (pro parte majore). In: Werner Greuter, E. von Raab-Straube (ed.): Compositae. Datasheet Arctium minus In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.

further reading

  • John W. Thieret, William A. Niering, Nancy C. Olmstead: National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region , Revised edition. Chanticleer Press, Inc, 2001, ISBN 0-375-40232-2 .
  • Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal, Joseph M. Ditomaso: Weeds of the Northeast. Cornell University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8014-8334-4 .

Web links

Commons : Little Burdock ( Arctium minus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files