Centaury

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Centaury
Centaurium quadrifolium

Centaurium quadrifolium

Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Asterids
Euasterids I
Order : Enzianartige (Gentianales)
Family : Gentian Family (Gentianaceae)
Genre : Centaury
Scientific name
Centaurium
Hill

The centaury ( Centaurium ) is a plant genus in the family of the Gentian family (Gentianaceae). More rarely, it is called, among other things, hundred and thousand gulden herb (especially in Austria), bitter herb , fever herb , divine mercy herb , laurine herb or Sanktorinkraut . The former 50 species have been divided into four genera and so the genus Centaurium contains only about 20 species since 2004, which mainly occur in the Mediterranean area .

description

Illustration of Real Tausendgüldenkrauts ( Centaurium erythraea )
Inflorescence of Centaurium calycosum
Five-fold flowers of Centaurium davyi

Appearance and leaves

Centaurium species grow as annual, biennial or herbaceous plants . The indistinct square stems are simple or branched and independently upright to prostrate.

The leaves are long-lasting or wilted to fruit ripeness in basal rosettes and arranged cross-opposite on the stem. Basal leaves form a rosette in most species, the entire leaves on the hollow stem are always cross opposite.

Inflorescences and flowers

The flowers stand together in loose to dense zymose or spike-like , sometimes cephalic inflorescences ; the branches are sometimes pseudodichotomous. Often no flower stalk is recognizable.

The hermaphroditic flowers are radial symmetry and rarely four, mostly five-fold with a double flower envelope . The usually five wedged or angular sepals are only closely fused at their base and end more or less pointed. The mostly five petals are tubular, conical to funnel-shaped fused. The corolla lobes are shorter than the corolla tube. The colors of the petals range from white to pink and purple to blue and yellow. The stamens emanating from the throat of the crown are thin and initially upright, later twisted spirally. The upper ovary is one to partly two-chambered. The linear style is two-branched in the uppermost area and ends in two head-shaped scars.

Fruits and seeds

The elongated, spindle-shaped or egg-shaped capsule fruits open with two lobes and contain many seeds. The tiny seeds are reddish brown-black with a net-like, honeycomb surface.

Occurrence and protection

The distribution area of only about 20 species of the genus Centaurium s. st. is mainly the Mediterranean .

Centaury species occur mainly on sunny, moist to fresh meadows and forest clearings, but also on dry slopes in Central and Southern Europe at altitudes of over 1500 meters. This warmth-loving plant genus is native and widespread in almost all of Europe. In Central Europe, the three types are genuine centaury ( Centaurium erythraea) with the subspecies Kopfiges centaury ( Centaurium capitatum ), beach-centaury ( Centaurium littorale ) and Small centaury ( Centaurium pulchellum ) at home. Few species are neophytes in North America .

In Germany, all Centaury species are under nature protection or species protection according to the Federal Species Protection Ordinance . Wild occurrences must therefore not be picked or damaged.

Systematics

The genus name Centaurium was first published in 1756 by John Hill in The British Herbal , p. 62. The botanical name Centaurium is derived from the Greek Centaurs , especially from the medicinal Cheiron . In terms of folk etymology, the designation as centum aurei was derived from the Latin words centum ('hundred') and aurum ('gold') or aureus ('golden' and 'gulden') and the plant was known as “Hundertguldenkraut” (“plant, the 100 Is worth guilders ”) then to the centaury . A synonym for Centaurium Hill is Erythraea Renealm. ex Borkh.

The genus Centaurium belongs to the subtribe Chironiinae from the tribe Chironieae within the Gentianaceae family .

Mansion & Struwe 2004 restructured the subtribe Chironiinae. In Mansion 2004 a new genus, Zeltnera G.Mans. and the two genera Gyrandra Griseb. and Schenkia Griseb. reactivated. Over 20 species from the genus Centaurium Hill were separated into these genera. The new genus Zeltnera contains about 25 species, mainly found from California to Mexico and Texas. The small genus Gyrandra contains only the three Mexican species: Gyrandra chironioides , Gyrandra pterocaulis and Gyrandra tenuifolia and the two species Gyrandra brachycalyx and Gyrandra pauciflora , which are widespread in Central America. Schenkia contains five species: the Schenkia spicata ( spiked centaury , syn .: Centaurium spicatum ), which is widespread in Eurasia and North Africa , and the three species Schenkia australis , Schenkia clementii and Schenkia japonica, which occur in Australia and on the Pacific islands, as well as the rare, endangered species Schenkia sebaeoides from Hawaii. The approximately 20 species remaining in the genus Centaurium occur mainly in the Mediterranean region.

Genuine centaury ( Centaurium erythraea )
Centaurium littorale subsp. compressum
Habit and flowers of Centaurium maritimum
Centaurium tenuiflorum

The genus Centaurium s. st. contains only about 20 (previously up to 50) species since 2004:

use

In North America, the European is True centaury as a medicinal plant grown and there is already partly as a neophyte naturalized. Wild stocks are harvested in North Africa and Southeast Europe . In addition to several bitter substances , the herb also contains glycosides , flavonoids , essential oils , valeric acid and xanthones .

In folk and naturopathy , Centaurium is used, thanks to the erythrocentaurine it contains, as a classic bitter drug and therefore as an appetizing stomach remedy similar to different types of gentian . As a rule, the dried above-ground parts of the plant are used for this.

The True centaury was in 2004 in Germany for the medicinal plant of the year awarded.

Others

The German poet Friedrich Rückert wrote a short poem about a centaury . In the volume of poetry Heiteres Herbarium by Karl Heinrich Waggerl there is a poem of the same name.

On July 3, 2014, Deutsche Post AG issued a postage stamp worth 28 euro cents with the motif of the centaury in the flowers stamp series . The design comes from the design office Klein and Neumann KommunikationDesign .

swell

  • Guilhem Mansion, L. Zeltner, F. Bretagnolle: Phylogenetic patterns and polyploid evolution within the Mediterranean genus Centaurium (Gentianaceae - Chironieae). In: Taxon , Volume 54, 2005, pp. 931-950.
  • Guilhem Mansion: A new classification of the polyphyletic genus Centaurium Hill (Chironiinae, Gentianaceae): description of the New World endemic Zeltnera, and reinstatement of Gyrandra Griseb. and Schenkia Griseb. , In: Taxon , Volume 53, 2004, pp. 719-740. PDF.
  • Saood Omer: Centaurium in the Flora of Pakistan : Online.
  • Ting-nung Ho, James S. Pringle: Gentianaceae : Centaurium , p. 4 - online with the same text as the printed work , In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven (ed.): Flora of China , Volume 16 - Gentianaceae through Boraginaceae , Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis, 1995, ISBN 0-915279-33-9 . (Sections Description and Systematics)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Dornseiff: The Greek words in German. Berlin 1950, p. 45.
  2. ↑ Etymological dictionary of the German language : Centaury.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Centaurium in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
  4. ↑ Guilhem Mansion, L. Struwe: Generic delimitation and phylogenetic relationships within the subtribe Chironiinae (Chironieae: Gentianaceae), with special reference to Centaurium: evidence from nrDNA and cpDNA sequences. , In: Molec. Phylogenet. Evol. , 32, 2004, pp. 951-977.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Karol Marhold, 2011: Centaurium. In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity . Last accessed on February 14, 2014

Web links

Commons : centaury ( Centaurium )  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
 Wikispecies: centaury ( Centaurium )  - Directory of species