Spotted Arum

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Spotted Arum
Spotted Arum (Arum maculatum)

Spotted Arum ( Arum maculatum )

Systematics
Monocots
Order : Frog-spoon-like (Alismatales)
Family : Arum family (Araceae)
Subfamily : Aroideae
Genre : Arum ( Arum )
Type : Spotted Arum
Scientific name
Arum maculatum
L.

The spotted arum ( Arum maculatum ) is a species of the arum family (Araceae). It is widespread in the temperate zone of Europe .

description

illustration
Leaves with spots

Appearance and leaf

The spotted arum is a perennial herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 20 to 40 cm. This geophyte has a horizontal, walnut-sized, bulbous rhizome as a persistence organ. All parts of the plant are poisonous.

The basal leaves are long stalked and 10 to 20 cm long. The simple leaf blade is broadly arrow-shaped. In some populations, the lush green leaf blades have dark spots (hence the name).

Detail, enlargement approx. 24 times, section from an inflorescence of the spotted arum, clearly recognizable the female flowers on the left (in nature so below), the fertile male flowers in the middle and the sterile male flowers on the right (in nature above)
Cut open inflorescence, the flowerless, dark, uppermost area of ​​the piston is clearly visible.

Inflorescence and flower

The flowering period extends from April to May, i.e. at the end of full spring. The spotted arum is single sexed ( monoecious ). The inflorescence has the structure typical of Araceae: a single bract , the spathe , which surrounds the so-called piston (spadix). The light to yellow-green spathe is rolled up in the shape of a bag, with the upper area, which is about 3.5 to 6 times as long as the lower, open and the lower area closed, in between is the spathe constricted. At the bottom of the bulb are the female flowers and above the fertile male flowers (in the middle), above the fertile male flowers there is a wreath of sterile , bristle-like flowers, which are also known as trap hairs. The reduced, unisexual flowers have no bracts . The anthers are mostly yellow.

Fruit cluster with first green and red berries when ripe

Infructescence and fruit

The berries are densely packed on the fruit cluster and turn bright red when ripe.

Chromosome number

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 28 or 56.

ecology

From an ecological point of view, these are kettle slide trap flowers. The flowers are feminine . The pollination is mainly by the tiny, hairy moth fly ( Psychoda phalaenoides ), also "Abort fly" is called because their larvae in highly polluted waste water and sewage live. In the cauldrons there are almost exclusively females who are attracted by the odor of urine from the cauldron trap flower, because they wrongly suspect a place to lay their eggs. When they get onto the inner lower wall of the helmet, which is covered with tiny oil droplets, they slide through the gaps in the trap into the kettle. The starchy conical thickening of the inflorescence axis produces so much heat at this time that its base is heated up to 40 degrees and therefore the temperature in the kettle is often 25 degrees higher than outside on the cool spring night. The warmth is only indirectly used to attract people, as it releases the urine-like smelling, insect pheromone scents twice as fast as would be the case without this "central heating".

First, the female flowers ripen and a drop from the tip of the stigma, on which the pollen adhering to the insects , sticks. This receptive drop also serves to build up the vital high humidity in the boiler. Contrary to earlier assumptions, however, it does not serve to feed the visitors, as they do not consume any food during their one-week life.

In the course of the night the dust bags burst open and powder the trapped insects. The next morning the helmet slacks and the oil droplets disappear, so that the visitors can escape again. Since the pollinators themselves do not benefit from the visit, the arum can be called an insect flower. It has recently been found that in the genus Arum and its relatives in the subfamily Aroideae in the outer pollen wall , the exine, the sporopollenine that is otherwise typical for all other flowering plants is missing. The meaning of this phenomenon is still not understood, but could be related to the special pollination ecology of this kinship relationship.

The diaspores are spread by digestive expansion ( endozoochory ).

The spotted arum is attacked with spermogonia and aecidia by the rust fungi Melampsora allii-populina and Puccinia sessilis var. Sessilis .

Toxicity

The spotted arum is very poisonous in all parts of the plant. Young children in particular are at risk from eating the berries. Nevertheless, according to the literature, 60% of the reported cases were symptom-free, 40% had irritation of the mucous membranes, and 20% affected the stomach and intestines. The skin-irritating effect is caused by hot substances and calcium oxalate crystals , which injure the skin through their raphid bundles and allow the other toxins to penetrate. Serious poisoning, including fatal, occurred primarily in grazing cattle. The fresh plant and its sap have a stronger effect than the dried plant parts. The ingredients are still largely unknown. The main active ingredient is said to be aroin , which is most strongly represented in the fresh tuber with 0.005%. Other toxic ingredients are cyanogenic glycosides and saponins .

Occurrence

The distribution area extends from Sweden , Denmark and the United Kingdom via Belgium , the Netherlands , Germany , Austria , Switzerland and Italy , from Poland via Belarus to the Ukraine and from France to Spain and Portugal , from the Czech Republic and Slovakia via Hungary , the former Yugoslavia , Bulgaria , Romania , Albania and Greece to Turkey and the Caucasus.

The spotted arum is found mainly in the temperate zone in lower European mountain regions, in Switzerland especially in the foothills of the Alps and in the Jura. In the Allgäu Alps, it rises in Vorarlberg in the Balderschwanger valley above the Gschwendwies-Alpe up to 1160 m above sea level.

It is mostly found in moist deciduous forests in the colline (to montane) altitude range . It loves permeable, calcareous soils ("reaction number" 7 according to Ellenberg ) and often occurs in association with other spring-flowering plants of the herb layer, such as lungwort and wild garlic . He is a Fagetalia order character.

Use as a medicinal plant

The arum, especially its dried tuber, was used as a medicinal plant from antiquity until the 20th century. Scientifically oriented medicine and folk medicine no longer use the arum therapeutically today. It is only considered a poisonous plant . In homeopathy , preparations based on the spotted arum are used, for example, for inflammation of the upper respiratory tract and nasal polyps.

history

Cob of the Arum

In popular belief, it was assumed that the cobs of various representatives of the arum family , as phallus symbols, would increase potency and secure the offspring.

Taxonomy

The species name Arum maculatum was first published in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum , Volume 2, p. 966.

Examples of synonyms for Arum maculatum  L. are: Arum immaculatum (Rchb.) Schott , Arum maculatum var. Immaculatum Rchb. , Arum pyrenaeum Dufour , Arum vulgare Lam. , Arum maculatum fo. spathulatum Terpó , Arum maculatum fo. tetrelii (Corb.) Terpó , Arum maculatum var. karpatii Terpó , Arum Malyi Schott , Arum orientale subsp. amoenum (Engl.) RRMill , Arum trapezuntinum Schott ex Engl. , Arum zelebori Schott .

Common names

There are many common names for the (spotted) arum: Ronenkraut, Aasblume, Chrippenkindli (CH), Dittichrut, Entenschnabel, spotted German ginger, Heckenpüppchen, Johanneshaupt, Katzenpis, Kesselfallenblume, Magenkraut, Pfingstblume, Ronechrut (CH), Snakeberry (A), devil's hat, drumstick, and tooth herb.

In the German-speaking area, the following other common names are or were used for this plant species, sometimes only regionally: Aaron, Alrone ( Bern ), Aoranswörtel ( Altmark ), Aranwurz, Arau, Aron, Arone, Aronenkraut ( Switzerland ), Aronskindchen ( Eifel near Bertrich ), Bäebli (Bern), Chiedli (Bern), Calbeswurz ( Old High German ), Chindlichrut ( St. Gallen ), Drachenwurz, donkey ears ( Silesia ), Fieberwurz (Silesia), Fresswurz (Silesia), Frostwurz, fruit flower (Eifel near Nuremberg ) Heckenditzchen (Eifel), rear doll (Eifel at elm ), St. John's head, Tütscher Ingber, Kalbfuss ( medium high German ), Kalberfuss (medium high German), calf root (medium high German), calf root (medium high German), Kalbfuss, Kalvesvout ( middle Low German ), Kilte, Kiltblume, Kowort (Middle Low German), Kühwurz, Lungkraut ( Augsburg ), Lungernchindli (Bern), Stomach Root, Wild Minte, Naterwurtz (Middle High German), Papenkau ( Göttingen ), Papenkinder (Altmark, Neuhaldensle ben , Göttingen), Papenpietken ( Mecklenburg ), Papenpint, Papenpitten (Göttingen, Grafschaft Mark ), Papenwörtel (Göttingen), Pfaffenbind, Pfaffenbinde, Pfaffenblut, Pfaffenpint, Pfaffenpoppeli (St. Gallen near Werdenberg ), Pfaffenzagel, Pfyffenpynt, Pipenpatten (Grafschaft Mark), Poperagrothworza (St. Gallen near Werdenberg), Ruche (Old High German), Rulpwort (Middle Low German), Rute (Bern), Ruwart (Middle Low German), large snake herb, Smeerwurz (Middle Low German ), Smerwort (Middle Low German), Sperwurzel, Stute (Bern), Suche (Middle High German), Suge (Middle High German), Veronikenwurz (Silesia), Wederrimpe, Zehrwurz (Silesia), Zeigkraut, Zungwurz (Middle High German) and Zunwurz (Middle Low German).

literature

  • Ann Walton: A Morphogenetic Study of Arum maculatum L. In: Annals of Botany. Volume 28, Issue 2, 1964, pp. 271-282: PDF
  • 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 . (Section ecology)
  • Roth / Daunderer / Kormann: Poisonous plants, plant poisons. 6th edition (2012), ISBN 978-3-86820-009-6 (Toxicity section).
  • Ingrid and Peter Schönfelder : The new handbook of medicinal plants. Franckh-Kosmos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2011, ISBN 3-440-09387-5 (section medicinal plant).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Stuttgart, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 2001. Pages 118–119. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5
  2. ↑ Peter Zwetko: The rust mushrooms Austria. Supplement and host-parasite directory to the 2nd edition of the Catalogus Florae Austriae, III. Part, Book 1, Uredinales. (PDF; 1.8 MB).
  3. ↑ Gerhard Habermehl, Petra Ziemer: Poisonous plants and intoxications in veterinary practice . M. & H. Schaper, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-7944-0208-3 , pp. 11 .
  4. ↑ Arum maculatum in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
  5. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 287.
  6. ^ Ernst Gilg : Textbook of Pharmacognosy. 2nd edition Berlin 1910, p. 37.
  7. ↑ Heinrich Marzell : The Arum (Arum maculatum L.) through the ages. In: Zeitschrift für Volkskunde 6, 1936, pp. 36–50.
  8. ↑ First publication scanned at biodiversitylibrary.org .
  9. ↑ Arum maculatum at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  10. ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, p. 45 f., Online.

Web links

Commons : Fleckter Arum  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files