Bear pod

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Bear pod
Bear pod (Astragalus glycyphyllos)

Bear pod ( Astragalus glycyphyllos )

Systematics
Eurosiden I
Order : Fabales (Fabales)
Family : Legumes (Fabaceae)
Subfamily : Butterflies (Faboideae)
Genre : Tragacanth ( astragalus )
Type : Bear pod
Scientific name
Astragalus glycyphyllos
L.

The bears pod ( Astragalus glycyphyllos ), also licorice tragacanth or Sweet tragacanth called, is a species of the genus Astragalus ( Astragalus ) within the family of the Leguminosae (Fabaceae). The botanical name glycyphyllos is derived from the Greek glykys "sweet" and phyllon "leaf" and refers to the sweet-tasting leaves.

description

The bear pod is a perennial , herbaceous plant with lying stems that rise at the ends and can reach a length of 40 to 80 centimeters, in exceptional cases even 150 centimeters.

The leaves are between 10 and 20 centimeters long and are pinnate unpaired with nine to fifteen broad elliptical leaves. The sweet-tasting leaves are two to four centimeters long and are vivid green on top. The underside is hairy.

Bear pod ( Astragalus glycyphyllos )
Fruit cluster

The many - flowered grape - shaped inflorescence is shorter than the leaves. The flowers , with pale greenish yellow petals , are up to 15 millimeters long. The upwardly curved, almost sedentary legume becomes 30 to 40 millimeters long and four to five millimeters wide and has a beak extension.

The flowering time is mainly in the months of May to July.

The species has chromosome number 2n = 16.

ecology

The bear pod is a hemicryptophyte and a creeping perennial; it has root nodules with nitrogen-binding bacteria. She is a deep rooter.

The flowers are homogamous "butterfly flowers with a folding mechanism". Pollinators are bumblebees and butterflies . Earth bumblebees “steal” the nectar by biting open the corolla tube. Honey bees take the nectar from the holes created in this way. The flowering time is mainly in the months of May to July.

The fruits are upwardly curved pods and they are bifurcated by a false partition. For the seeds , spreading occurs randomly through ungulates as well as animal spreading as adherents. In open terrain, however, the wind can also spread as a trolley. The seeds are cold germs .

Occurrence and location

This species is particularly widespread in Central Europe and is absent in large areas of southern Europe. In Germany the species is quite common, only in the north-west of the country it is partially absent. In Austria and Switzerland, Astragalus glycyphyllos commonly found. The bear pod rises in the Allgäu Alps in Tyrol between Steeg and the Ellbognerspitze up to 1600 m.

As a location, forest edges, light shrubbery, woodlands are usually preferred on calcareous clay soils. The bear pod is an Origanetalia order character in Central Europe. He likes to appear together with the middle clover ( Trifolium medium ) or the wood pea ( Lathyrus sylvestris ).

use

The bear pod is a valuable fodder plant whose leaves taste sweet.

Common names

In the German-speaking world, the following other trivial names are or were used for this plant species, sometimes only regionally : Bärenschoten ( Silesia ), Wild fenugreek, Christian root, Christianwurtz, Erdmöhren ( Middle High German ), Erdmotten (Middle High German), soft limbs, wild giggles, tuberous herb , Tuber root, wild Kolengräcum, lacquer cracks, liquorice vetch, Moren (Middle High German), Steinwicken (Silesia), Stragel ( Tyrol near Brixen ), vertebrate and wolf pods (Silesia).

literature

  • Gunter Steinbach (Ed.), Bruno P. Kremer u. a .: wildflowers. Recognize & determine. Mosaik, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-576-11456-4
  • Manfred A. Fischer , Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol. 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2005, ISBN 3-85474-140-5 .
  • 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 .

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Stuttgart, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 2001. Page 602. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5
  2. Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 2, IHW, Eching 2004, ISBN 3-930167-61-1 , p. 143.
  3. ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, page 50, online.

Web links

Commons : Bärenschote ( Astragalus glycyphyllos )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files