White forest bird
| White forest bird | ||||||||||||
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White forest bird |
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| Cephalanthera damasonium | ||||||||||||
| ( Mill. ) Druce |
The White Waldvöglein , bleach Waldvöglein or broadleaf helleborine ( Cephalanthera damasonium ) is the type species of the genus helleborine ( Cephalanthera ) from the family of the Orchid Family (Orchidaceae). Compared to many other native orchids, the white forest bird is still common in some areas.
The White Forest Bird was voted Orchid of the Year 2017.
description
The white forest bird is a slender, persistent , herbaceous growing rhizome geophyte . The horizontally creeping rhizomes are short, branched and strongly rooted.
At the base of the green stem , which reaches a height of 8 to 60 centimeters, there are one to three dark brown, scale-like leaves. This is followed by two to six parallel-veined, egg-shaped to lanceolate leaves , which are arranged more or less in two rows on the stem. These leaves are four to ten centimeters long and 1.5 to 5 centimeters wide.
The transition from the leaves to the bracts of the flowers is mostly fluid. The lowest bract is significantly longer than the flowers, they become significantly smaller towards the top.
The racemose inflorescence is loose-flowered with two to 20 flowers.
The hermaphroditic, zygomorphic , threefold, white to creamy-yellow colored flowers stand obliquely upwards or vertically in the axils of the bracts and usually hardly open. The bracts of the outer circle of the perigons are ovate to lanceolate, 15 to 23 millimeters long and 4 to 10 millimeters wide. The two upper bracts of the inner circle are slightly shorter with a length of 14 to 19 millimeters. The lip is divided into two limbs. It is 10 to 16 millimeters long. The rear lip (hypochil) is triangular with a yellow mark in the middle and curved up on the sides. The front lip (epichil) is heart-shaped and also bent up on the sides, the tip bent down a little. There are three to five yellow to orange colored longitudinal ridges on the lip. There is a spur.
With the White Forest Bird, self-pollination is the rule. The anther opens even before the anthesis (flowering) . The pollinia then sink to the scar surface and touch the scar mucus. This means that pollination is complete before the flowers bloom. Because the stigma is soaked by the pollinia, it is not possible for a pollinator to get the pollinia glued on, as is the rule with the sword-leaved forest bird ( Cephalanthera longifolia ). The fruit set in the White Forest Bird is correspondingly very high and is 80%. The ripe seed pods are significantly larger than those of the other native forest bird species. They are directed steeply upwards, 23 to 35 millimeters long and 8 to 12 millimeters wide. Due to the large capsule fruits , the white forest bird can still be identified well after flowering and even after it has dried out.
The flowering period extends from May to July.
The white forest bird is usually not very variable. Are known:
- Plants without chlorophyll
- Albinos with pure white flowers
- pale yellow colored flowers.
Genetics and Mycotrophy
The white forest bird has a karyotype of two sets of chromosomes and 18 chromosomes each ( cytology : 2n = 36).
The seed of this orchid does not contain any nutrient tissue for the seedling . The germination therefore takes place only when infection by a root fungus ( mycorrhiza ). The plant is still dependent on the mycorrhiza in the adult stage. Indicators for this are the often very dark locations and the occasional, completely chlorophyll-free plants.
As has recently been shown, green individuals of the white forest bird also obtain almost half of their carbon from their root fungi. Among these were several species that are ectomycorrhizal partners of trees. Thus, the surrounding trees are probably the primary carbon source of the fungal carbon absorbed by the orchids ( epiparasitism ). In its diet, the white forest bird stands between autotrophic green orchid species (such as the lady's slipper ) and myco-heterotrophic, pale species (such as the bird's nest root and the coral root ). Such a “mixed diet” is called partial myco heterotrophy or mixotrophy .
ecology
The White Forest Bird mainly inhabits light to dark deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests on dry to fresh soils. It can also be found in bushes on semi-arid and dry grassland. It rarely grows on semi-arid lawns without protection from trees.
Particularly in young spruce monocultures between 15 and 20 years old, it can spread very rapidly in a short time. Around 1,500 plants or more on an area of 2,500 m² are possible. After only a few years, this number decreases sharply and there are only a few plants left.
It occurs in the following plant communities:
- Character type of the Carici-Fagetum from the sub-association Cephalanthero-Fagenion
- Association of Fagion
- Association Mesobromion
(For a breakdown see: Plant sociological units according to Oberdorfer )
The white forest bird is a geophyte with a horizontally creeping, branched, richly rooted rhizome . The vegetative reproduction takes place through root shoots. The taproot forms an endotrophic mycorrhiza . The plant, which initially grows underground, is nourished for a long time by the fungus. The first leaf is formed around the 9th year, and flowering begins around the 10th year. In this species, however, chlorophyll-free mutants are not infrequently found. A part of the green plant gets about half of the carbon requirement from the root fungi, so despite photosynthesis partly lives parasitically.
Since the mycorrhizal fungi of Cephalanthera species, unlike most other orchids , also live in symbiosis with trees, i.e. also form an ectotrophic mycorrhiza, the trees are ultimately their most important source of carbon.
Flowering time is from May to June. The ovaries of the flowers are sessile, twisted and upright. The tepals incline together. The front part of the lip serves as a holding place for the insects, the spur separates the nectar . The flowers are usually half or completely closed, further opening only takes place at temperatures above 25 ° C. The anthers already open when the flower is closed, so self-pollination is the rule. The pollen in the sessile pollinia is powdery and hardly connected by threads.
Fruit ripens from September to October. The fruits per stem are few, but with a length of 25 mm and a width of 8–12 mm, relatively large capsule fruits that stand upright when ripe and have 3 protruding edges. The capsule fruits spring open at longitudinal gaps when it is dry and thus act as a wind spreader for the tiny, only 0.005 mg heavy seeds , which in turn spread further as granular flyers.
Occurrence
- General
The distribution area extends from southern Europe to southern Scandinavia , further to the Middle East , also in the Caucasus and on the west coast of the Caspian Sea .
It is a floral element of the Mediterranean, Sub-Mediterranean, Pannonian , Danubian, South and Central Atlantic, Subatlantic and Central European Florence zones, and to a lesser extent the Pontic and Sarmatic zones.
The white forest bird thrives best on calcareous or alkaline soils with a mulch layer. It prefers locations with a mild climate . It colonizes deciduous and mixed forests as well as dry pine forests in Central Europe, but it can also be found in shady bushes on semi- arid grasslands . In the Alps it hardly rises above altitudes of 1500 meters. In the Allgäu Alps in Vorarlberg between Bezau and the Holderegg-Alpe , it rises up to 1160 m above sea level.
According to Baumann and Künkele , the Alpine countries have the following altitude limits: Germany 10–1110 meters, France 5–1890 meters, Switzerland 200–1600 meters, Liechtenstein 470–1400 meters, Austria 200–1500 meters, Italy 10–1940 meters, Slovenia 50 –1800 meters and in Sicily 1940 meters.
It is absent in Central Europe in large areas in the lowlands and in the silicate low mountain ranges of Central Europe. At its locations it sometimes occurs in small, very loose and poor stocks.
- Germany
In Germany , the white forest bird avoids regions with largely lime-free soils. Therefore it is very rare or absent in the north German lowlands up to the edge of the low mountain range threshold , the Bavarian Forest , the Black Forest and in Bavaria between the Alpine foothills and the Danube .
- Switzerland
In Switzerland , the main distribution areas are in Northern Switzerland and around the larger lakes ( Lake Geneva , Lake Lucerne , Lake Neuchâtel , Lake Brienz and Lake Thun ), as well as along the Rhine and Rhone valleys . In the rest of Switzerland, the white forest bird has so far only been detected very rarely.
- Austria
In Austria the white forest bird occurs in all federal states and is only endangered in a few areas.
Conservation and endangerment
In spite of the fact that there are still many individuals in some places, the White Forest Bird is under strict protection of European and national laws.
- Red List Germany: safe
- Red list federal states: Baden-Württemberg : safe, Bavaria : safe, Brandenburg : 2, Hesse : safe, Lower Saxony : 3, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania : 3, North Rhine-Westphalia : safe, Rhineland-Palatinate : safe, Saarland : 3, Saxony : 2, Saxony-Anhalt : safe, Schleswig-Holstein : 1, Thuringia : safe.
For some time now, there has also been a decline in the formerly common species. Forest management has been intensified as has agriculture, and larger sites can quickly be lost due to clear cutting. This is particularly a danger where the white forest bird is already rare or rarely occurs. The nitrogen input via the air is also noticeable in the forests, blackberries and nettles spread and rob the orchids as less competitive plants of the habitat.
Systematics
The White Forest Bird was described by Philip Miller in 1768 as Serapias damasonium . This name represents the basionym . The genus Cephalanthera was founded in 1817, but it was not until 1906 that the species was transferred to this genus by George Claridge Druce .
Synonyms :
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Subspecies and hybrids
As a subspecies , Kotschy's forest bird ( Cephalanthera kotschyana Renz & Taubenheim ) is occasionally used as Cephalanthera damasonium subsp. kotschyana (Renz & Taubenheim) H. Sund. classified.
Hybrids are rare, although the species often share their locations. In the case of the White Forest Bird, this is due to the flowers that hardly open and the associated self-pollination. However, the following hybrids have been described.
- Cephalanthera × schulzei E.G. Camus ( Cephalanthera damasonium × Cephalanthera longifolia )
- It is not easy to determine the hybrid of the white forest bird with the sword-leaved forest bird . The foliage leaves are similar to the white forest bird, the bracts of the flowers are significantly smaller and more similar to the sword-leaved forest bird. The flowers are intermediate in shape and posture.
- Cephalanthera × mayeri (E. Mayer & Zimmerm.) A.Camus ( Cephalanthera damasonium × Cephalanthera rubra )
- This hybrid is usually clearly intermediate between the White Forest Bird and the Red Forest Bird .
Picture gallery
Inflorescence ( Lower Franconia )
fruiting plant
blossoms
literature
- Fritz Füller: Epipactis and Cephalanthera (Orchids of Central Europe, 5th part). 4th edition (unchanged reprint of the 3rd edition from 1986). Westarp Sciences, Hohenwarsleben 2005 (Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei, Volume 329), ISBN 3-89432-310-8 .
Standard works
- AHO (Ed.): The orchids of Germany . Verlag AHO Thuringia, Uhlstädt - Kirchhasel 2005, ISBN 3-00-014853-1 .
- Karl-Peter Buttler : Orchids, the wild growing species of Europe . Mosaik Verlag 1986, ISBN 3-570-04403-3 .
- Robert L. Dressler: The orchids - biology and systematics of the Orchidaceae . (1996) - good work on the subject of systematics [German]
- Hans Sundermann : European and Mediterranean orchids . Brücke-Verlag, 2nd edition: 1975, ISBN 3-87105-010-5 .
- JG Williams: Orchids of Europe with North Africa and Asia Minor . BLV Verlag, ISBN 3-405-11901-4 .
- Claessens, J. & J. Kleynen: The flower of the European Orchid - Form and function, 2011. ISBN 978-90-902555-6-9 .
- 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
- ^ Arbeitskreis Heimische Orchideen AHO Hessen eV: Orchid of the year 2017: "The White Forest Bird (Cephalanthera damasonium (MILL.) DRUCE)" (accessed November 12, 2017)
- ↑ Thomas Julou, Bastian Burghardt, Gerhard Gebauer, Daniel Berveiller, Claire Damesin & Marc-André Selosse: Mixotrophy in orchids: insights from a comparative study of green individuals and nonphotosynthetic individuals of Cephalanthera damasonium . In: New Phytologist , Volume 166, Issue 2, Blackwell Publishing, 2005, pp. 639-654. ISSN 0028-646X ( PDF ( Memento of November 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ); 385 KB)
- ↑ Gerhard Gebauer: Partner exchange in the dark forest - stable isotopes give new insights into the mysterious nutritional behavior of orchids. In: Spectrum (science magazine of the University of Bayreuth), issue 3/2004, pp. 32–33. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
- ^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , pp. 270-271 .
- ↑ a b Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The flowering plants of Central Europe . 2nd Edition. tape 5 : Swan flowers to duckweed plants . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08048-X .
- ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 388.
- ↑ Helmut Baumann , Siegfried Künkele : Orchidaceae . In: Oskar Sebald u. a .: The fern and flowering plants of Baden-Württemberg. 1st edition Volume 8, page 311. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1998. ISBN 3-8001-3359-8
Web links
Wikispecies: White forest bird ( Cephalanthera damasonium ) - species directory- Cephalanthera damasonium. In: FloraWeb.de.
- White forest bird . In: BiolFlor, the database of biological-ecological characteristics of the flora of Germany.
- Profile and distribution map for Bavaria . In: Botanical Information Hub of Bavaria .
- Thomas Meyer: Data sheet with identification key and photos at Flora-de: Flora von Deutschland (old name of the website: Flowers in Swabia )
- Cephalanthera damasonium . In: Botany in the picture
- Cephalanthera damasonium . In: Uni Graz
Distribution maps:
Regional:
- The orchids of the Rhön: Cephalanthera damasonium , Weißes Waldvöglein
- AHO Bavaria: White forest bird ( Cephalanthera damasonium )
- AGEO (Switzerland): Cephalanthera damasonium
- The orchids of Germany: Cephalanthera damasonium
- Orchids of southern Styria Cephalanthera damasonium Pale forest bird
- Den virtuella Floran (Swedish)
Broad-leaved orchid (1989) | Pyramid Dogwort (1990) | Orchid (1991) | Large two-leaf (1992) | Orchid orchid (1993) | Swamp gloss herb (1994) | Bee-Ragwurz (1995) | Yellow Lady's Slipper (1996) | Bug Orchid (1997) | Marsh stendrums (1998) | Bocks strap tongue (1999) | Red Forest Bird (2000) | Herbst-Drehwurz (2001) | Vogel-Nestwurz (2002) | Fly Ragwort (2003) | Green hollow tongue (2004) | Brandy orchid (2005) | Broad-leaved stendola (2006) | Common Cabbage Rose (2007) | Overlooked Orchid (2008) | Male Orchid (2009) | Yellow Lady's Slipper (2010) | Two-leaved forest hyacinth (2011) | Pale Orchid (2012) | Purple Orchid (2013) | Leafless Rebeard (2014) | Flesh-colored orchid (2015) | Sommer-Drehwurz (2016) | White Forest Bird (2017) | Peat moss orchid (2018) | Tridenty orchid (2019) | Broad-leaved orchid (2020)