Ordinary easter egg

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Ordinary easter egg
Common easter egg (Aristolochia clematitis)

Common easter egg ( Aristolochia clematitis )

Systematics
Magnoliids
Order : Peppery (Piperales)
Family : Aristolochiaceae (Aristolochiaceae)
Subfamily : Aristolochioideae
Genre : Pipe flowers ( Aristolochia )
Type : Ordinary easter egg
Scientific name
Aristolochia clematitis
L.

The birthwort or Upright Osterluzei ( Aristolochia clematitis ) is a plant that the family of aristolochiaceae belongs (Aristolochiaceae).

Word origin

The plant name "Osterluzei", about early New High German ōsterlutzye and Middle High German ostirlucie , comes from Old High German astrinza / astrenza , which developed from Middle Latin aristologie / astrolocia and from the Greek aristolocheía , which derives from the Greek aristolocheía ( based on local vocabulary ) According to Dioscurides and Pliny, the plant is supposed to help the women who have recently given birth with the afterbirth.

description

Illustration of the flower of the Osterluzei with longitudinal section (from Otto Wilhelm Thomé : Flora of Germany, Austria and Switzerland , Gera, 1885)
Illustration of the flower of the Easter luzei with longitudinal section (from Meyers Konversationslexikon from 1888)

The common easter lucei is a perennial herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 30 to 100 centimeters. The creeping stem axis breaks easily. The rhizome is richly branched and creeps widely in the ground. The plant gives off a strange, slightly fruity smell. The leaves are long-stalked, deeply bulged and heart-shaped.

The flowering period in Europe extends from May to June. Two to eight flowers stand together in the axils of the upper leaves. The peculiar shape of the flower is particularly striking. The stalked, zygomorphic , hermaphrodite flowers are yellow. They are bag-shaped at the top, merge into a flower tube covered with downward hair on the inside, which then widens at the bottom to form a bulbous flower pot. The flowers are a trap for visiting insects , which are held captive by the hairiness of the flower tube. After the flower has been pollinated, these hairs relax and the insects, which in turn are laden with pollen , can escape again.

The many-seeded capsule fruit is initially green, later black with a diameter of 1 to 2 centimeters.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 14.

ecology

The common easter egg is a rhizome geophyte . Vegetative reproduction occurs abundantly through the rhizome.

Ecological flower traps are boiler traps of the "sliding trap flower" type, they are female and have a disgusting smell. The perigone consists of the basal cup, which stands under the tube and which has a lip smooth on the top thanks to the wax. Visitors are particularly small two-winged birds , especially mosquitoes of the genus Ceratopogon , which slide off and fall into the kettle via the trap hairs pointing downwards. The traps only wilt after the scars have been pollinated , about two days. Until then, the insects are kept alive by the nectar provided . Spontaneous self-pollination is also possible.

The capsule fruits, which overhang when ripe and open with longitudinal cracks, act as wind spreaders. The spongy seeds have a membranous outer layer that serves as an umbrella-like flight organ for the spread of wind as a balloon flyer. Fruit ripens from September to October, but the fruit set is only small.

Specializing in the Osterluzei as feed is the caterpillar of the Osterluzeifalters .

Occurrence and endangerment

The distribution area of ​​the common Easter luze includes the countries Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, Corsica, Sicily, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Ukraine, European and Asian Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The common easter lucei is originally native to the Mediterranean area and is found today through overgrowth throughout Central Europe in warmer locations, for example in the area of vineyards , embankments and alluvial forests . It is quite widespread in Europe, but probably not originally (possibly introduced through viticulture) and occurs very frequently in places (vineyards, bushes, hedges, fences, field edges.) In Central Europe it comes in the company of the Urtico-Aegopodietum from the Aegopodion association before, but also in the Querco-Ulmetum of the Alno-Ulmion association and in companies of the Berberidion or Fumario-Euphorbion associations.

In Austria, the common Easter lucei is long-established in the federal states of Burgenland , Vienna , Lower Austria , Styria , Carinthia , Upper Austria and Vorarlberg (only rarely found in the latter two). It is considered endangered in the Rhine Valley, the Carinthian Mountains and the northern Alpine foothills. The common easter lucei is on the red list of endangered species in several federal states in Germany .

Medical importance

Historical use as a medicinal plant

The Osterluzei species ( Aristolochia spec.) Have been used as medicinal plants since ancient times , for example for the treatment of wounds. Greek and Roman doctors recommended different Aristolochia species as a remedy for snake bites . The North American Indians are said to have used these plant species for this purpose.

The generic name Aristolochia goes back to the Greek words aristos (very good, the best) and locheios (part of childbirth ) and indicates its use in ancient times: The active ingredients of the plant are supposed to facilitate and accelerate birth . This is what the Greek doctor Pedanios Dioscurides wrote in the 1st century in his "Pharmaceutical Science" (Aristolochia got its name because it is supposed to help women who have recently given birth ). Due to the effect that induces labor , this type of plant was also used as an abortion agent , but the risk of poisoning was high.

In homeopathy , preparations made from the plant were used not only for various gynecological indications , but also as internal and external wound healing agents. It was also used to treat chronic ulcers .

In Germany, in the course of a step- by- step plan procedure (dated June 3, 1981), all “ human and veterinary medicinal products that are manufactured using plants containing aristolochic acid ” were classified as questionable and their legal approval for medicinal products was revoked. This also applies to registrations of homeopathic medicinal products up to potency level D10. Medicines with Easter luzei are no longer marketable.

ingredients

The roots of the easter luzei contain up to one percent of volatile, water-insoluble, poisonous aristolochic acids , the content in the leaves is a maximum of 0.03%. Their proportion is much higher in the rhizome and roots (up to 0.7%) and in the seeds (up to 0.43%). The aristolochic acids are considered to be kidney damaging and carcinogenic .

Other ingredients are 0.4% essential oils, tannins and clematinin. Alkaloids and saponins are absent.

Poisoning

In laboratory and epidemiological studies, the toxicity of herbal preparations containing plant components of Aristolochia species has been proven. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified such preparations as carcinogenic (carcinogenic) for humans (category 1 carcinogen). In addition, the IARC found that Aristolochia mixtures, which can contain significant amounts of the poisonous aristolochic acids, have a damaging effect on the kidneys. In animal experiments in which high doses of these substances were administered, the animals suffered not only severe nephrosis but also atrophy of the spleen and thymus , gastric ulcers , followed by hyperplasia and hyperkeratosis . In addition, aristolochic acid is a definite capillary poison and causes effects similar to colchicine in the gastrointestinal tract, even after parenteral administration . In addition, it leads to hyperemia in the pelvis, menorrhagia and it can also lead to abortion during pregnancy or pregnancy . Resoptively, aristolochic acid first stimulates and then paralyzes. Symptoms of poisoning (observed in animals) are vomiting, gastroenteritis, convulsions, increased pulse rate, lower blood pressure, death in a coma due to respiratory paralysis.

Flour contaminated with aristolochic acid is now considered to be the trigger that has been sought for many years for the Balkan nephropathy , which was first described in Bulgaria in 1956 , a disease that occurs exclusively in rural areas of the Balkans and leads to a typical form of kidney failure . In the regions affected, the easter leuze is a common weed in the grain fields . The seeds of the plant , which are also poisonous, are probably harvested together with the grains and processed into flour together with them, which often happens in the village mills . Most of the farming families obtain the flour contaminated with aristolochic acid from these , which they process into bread and the like. Consumption of the contaminated baked goods results in a gradual poisoning , which ultimately manifests itself in the clinical picture described, which is characterized by progressive kidney failure without the high blood pressure that is usually associated with it. They also have an unusually high risk of developing cancers of the upper urinary tract .

regional customs

The Osterluzei is regionally part of a plant bundle at the herb consecration, which is celebrated in the church in some Catholic areas on the Assumption of Mary .

Common names

The following other trivial names are or were used for the Osterluzei, in some cases only regionally : Bruchwurzel, Fobwurz ( Swabia ), Hynschkraut, Kynschwurzel, Spoonful ( St. Gallen ), Osterloutzie ( Middle High German ), Osterlizeiachrut (St. Gallen, Werdenberg ), Osterlotzie, Osterlucey, Osterluceye, Osterlunz, Osterlutz, Osterluzi, Rämy ( Transylvania ), Rebling, Sarasine, Saracen herb, wild vine tendrils, Wolfweed, Zeiachrut (St. Gallen, Werdenberg) and beaverweed.

photos

Common easter egg ( Aristolochia clematitis ):

  • Unripe fruits

  • ripe fruit

  • Opened ripe fruit

  • leaf

  • Easter luzei covering the ground

  • When driving out at the location in Tauberland

  • inflorescence

  • Aristolochia clematitis - Museum specimen

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Kluge , Alfred Götze : Etymological dictionary of the German language . 20th edition. Edited by Walther Mitzka . De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1967; Reprint (“21st unchanged edition”) ibid 1975, ISBN 3-11-005709-3 , p. 526.
  2. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 325.
  3. ↑ a b c d Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait . 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 .
  4. ^ E. Nardi (2009): Aristolochiaceae. - In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Datasheet Aristolochia
  5. ^ A b Manfred A. Fischer, Karl Oswald, Wolfgang Adler: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 3rd, improved edition. Province of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2008, ISBN 978-3-85474-187-9 , p. 260 .
  6. ^ Heinrich Diehl, Hans Moser: The Osterluzei as a wound healing agent. In: Munich medical weekly. Volume 81, 1934, p. 473 f.
  7. ↑ Julius Metzger: Homeopathic Medicines Doctrine. Haug Verlag, Saulgau 1951, DNB 577283316 .
  8. ↑ From Contergan to Coxigon on zeit.de
  9. ↑ W. Blaschek, R. Hänsel et al. (Ed.): Hager's Handbook of Pharmaceutical Practice , 5th Edition, Springer, 2000, ISBN 3-540-52688-9 , p. 171. Restricted preview in Google book search
  10. ↑ Wolfgang Löscher, Fritz Rupert et al. (Hrsg.): Pharmacotherapy in domestic and farm animals. 7th edition, Georg Thieme Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-8304-4160-6 , p. 464. Restricted preview in the Google book search
  11. ↑ IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, Volume 82 (PDF; 71 kB)
  12. ^ AP Grollmann et al.: Aristolochic acid and the etiology of endemic (Balkan) nephropathy. In: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Volume 10. 1073 / pnas.0701248104 ( online ( Memento of July 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Published before print July 9, 2007)
  13. ↑ Why flour makes the kidneys sick in the Balkans. ( Memento of August 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on: Wissenschaft.de , July 11, 2007.
  14. ↑ Death from the Grain Field. on: derstandard.at , July 9, 2007. (on the discovery of Balkan endemic nephropathy)
  15. ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, page 38 f., Online.
  16. ↑ Contaminated wheat crop. Easter egg in flour causes kidney disease. In: Allgemeine BäckerZeitung. August 23, 2007.

literature

Web links

Commons : Ordinary Osterluzei  - album with pictures, videos and audio files