Blue pipe grass

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Blue pipe grass
Blue pipegrass (Molinia caerulea), illustration

Blue pipegrass ( Molinia caerulea ), illustration

Systematics
Monocots
Commelinids
Order : Sweet grass (Poales)
Family : Sweet grasses (Poaceae)
Genre : Pipe grass ( Molinia )
Type : Blue pipe grass
Scientific name
Molinia caerulea
( L. ) Moench
Detail of the leaf base
Growth habit: Horst
In the winter half-year, whistle grass in acidic moors creates straw-colored aspects

The blue pipe grass ( Molinia caerulea ) is a species of the pipe grass genus within the sweet grass family . Other common names are common whistle grass , small whistle grass , Besenried , Benthalm or Bentgras . The name Besenried comes from the fact that brooms were tied from the stalks; Benthalm indicates its use in tying up grapevines, among other things. In northern Germany, the term pipe grass (or bent grass) is usually used , as the other Central European representative of the genus Molinia , pipe pipe grass , does not occur there. The white ostrich grass ( Agrostis stolonifera ), which is used for sports turf , is also known as bentgrass .

description

The blue pipegrass is a perennial, mostly large clumps- forming, very diverse grass that forms numerous renewal shoots that grow up outside the lowest leaf sheaths . The stature height is 50 to 100 centimeters. Since the stalks only have knots at the base , the base of the stem looks like an onion thickened. The leaf sheaths become 3 to 8 (10) millimeters wide. The flower panicles are 5 to 50 centimeters long and are usually very blue-violet; the spikelets are two- to five-flowered. Pipe grass blooms from July to September.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 36, but it is a polyploid complex with many forms, the systematics of which has not yet been sufficiently clarified.

ecology

The blue pipe grass is a summer to evergreen clump plant. New plants form at the so-called "tillering nodes". Some of the short internodes swell and serve as storage organs in the form of reserve cellulose. The following drought adaptations have developed: The roots reach up to a meter in depth, the leaves roll up when there is a lack of water. But there are also adjustments to nutrient-poor locations, e.g. B. on litter meadows: In autumn, the plant shifts the minerals to the base of the shoot so that they are not lost when mowing. However, when mowing early, the plant is pushed back. VA mycorrhiza is present, which is relatively rare in grasses.

Unusually, the blue pipegrass is able to actively defend itself against insects that want to eat the flower. The husks are tense and can close very quickly, thereby catching the insect, similar to a leghold . However, apart from the protection of the flower, the plant does not derive any advantage from the catch.

The flowers are windy of the "long-dust thread type" and self-sterile . Flowering time is from July to September.

The fruits are spelled fruits with air inclusion, which means that the wind can spread as a balloon flyer and wind spreader, as well as swimming. Fruit ripening is from August to September.

Vegetative reproduction sometimes takes place through subterranean runners , as well as through spikelet systems transformed into leaf sprouts. So there is a so-called pseudoviviparia .

Location and distribution

The common pipe grass grows on moist, alternately moist to alternately wet, nutrient-poor and moderately acidic locations with sandy and bog soils ( peat ). It is widespread in wet meadows, (partially) drained bogs , bog heaths and in light deciduous and coniferous forests in poorer locations. It is the eponymous species of the plant-sociological order of the pipe grass litter meadows (Molinion caeruleae).

In Germany, the species is common and widespread in regions poor in lime; it rises up to 1280 meters in the Black Forest and up to 2500 meters in the Alps . In the Allgäu Alps, in the Tyrolean part of the Nagelskopf near Hägerau , it rises up to 1,800 meters above sea level.

The distribution area as a whole includes Europe to Kazakhstan, the Mediterranean area with North Africa and Ethiopia. In the United States, it's a neophyte.

use

The blue whistle-grass is a valuable litter plant, but a bad fodder plant, high-growing clans have recently also been offered as ornamental plants for gardens.

For centuries, the long, hard, knotless stalks were used to clean long tobacco pipes, hence the name.

Cultivars

  • 'Moorhexe' (up to 90 cm flower height, for natural plantings)
  • 'Radiation source' (strong stalks, also carries snow load)
  • 'Variegata' (up to 50 cm high, white-colored form, flowers dark brown)

literature

  • 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 .
  • Hans Joachim Conert: Molinia . In: Gustav Hegi : Illustrated flora of Central Europe . 3rd edition, Volume I, Part 3, pp. 133-140, Verlag Paul Parey, Berlin, Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3-489-52320-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ White ostrich grass - Agrostis gigantea. Retrieved March 26, 2019 .
  2. ^ F. Ludwig: Molinia caerulea as a flycatcher . In: Botanisches Centralblatt 8, 1881: 87
  3. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 177.
  4. ^ Molinia in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved November 17, 2016.

Web links

Commons : Molinia caerulea  - album with pictures, videos and audio files