Field Hornwort

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Field Hornwort
Field Hornwort (Cerastium arvense)

Field Hornwort ( Cerastium arvense )

Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family : Carnation family (Caryophyllaceae)
Subfamily : Alsinoideae
Genre : Horn herbs ( Cerastium )
Type : Field Hornwort
Scientific name
Cerastium arvense
L.

The field hornwort ( Cerastium arvense ) is a species of the carnation family (Caryophyllaceae).

description

The field hornwort grows in loose grass as an upright, evergreen, perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 5 to 30 cm. The upper parts of the plant in particular often have special glandular hairs ( trichomes ), which can also be directed backwards or are absent. In the leaf axils there are vegetative clusters of leaves that are about as long as the flowering shoots. The large foliage leaves, which are arranged crosswise on the stem , are up to 3.5 cm long, 4 to 20 times as long as they are wide and linear-lanceolate in shape. They often appear soft because of their hair on top. If there are non-flowering shoots, they are always stretched.

Field hornwort blooms from April to August. The mostly more than three flowers are above a broad, skin-margined and often scale-shaped bract . The hermaphroditic flowers are about 12 to 20 mm in diameter. The 5 to 7 mm long sepals can be surmounted by the capsule fruit, which is up to twice as long. The stranded petals are 11 to 15 mm long and 1.5 times as long as the sepals. In the flower there are ten stamens and five styles. This capsule fruit is characteristically curved (horn-shaped), to which the generic name Cerastium refers from the Greek word keras for horn.

ecology

The field hornwort is an herbaceous chamaephyte and a creeping perennial .

The flowers are nectar- bearing "small funnel flowers ". In addition to primarily hermaphrodite flowers, there are also purely female, smaller flowers; so the species is gyno-dioecious . Hornwort is pollinated by insects , especially bees and flies . In bad weather the flowers are also cleistogamous, ie they remain closed.

When it is dry, the capsule fruits open and release the seeds . The diaspores are often spread by ants or by larger animals to whose fur the fruits adhere.

Single flower
Habit of the common hornwort
Conservation of field hornwort

Occurrence

The field hornwort is widespread throughout the northern hemisphere . It is common and common in much of Europe. In South America the species is said to occur as a neophyte .

The field hornwort grows on ruderal spots, roadsides, on meadows with varying levels of moisture, dry sand and xerothermal lawns and on rock debris. It is a character species of the order Agropyretalia, but also occurs in societies of the class Festuco-Brometea or Sedo-Scleranthetea.

use

The 'Compactum' variety forms dense cushions and is cultivated as an ornamental plant.

Subspecies

There are several subspecies:

  • Common field hornwort ( Cerastium arvense L. subsp. Arvense ): The nominate form has a strong, loose grass. Her stem has backward-facing hair. It has prostrate clusters of leaves that are about as long as the flower shoots. The leaves are oblong or linear-lanceolate, up to 30 mm long and 3 mm wide. The petals are up to 14 mm long. Their main occurrence is in semi-ruderal couch grass of dry and warm locations and in semi-arid grasslands. The number of chromosomes is 2n = 72.
  • Gewimpertes Cerastium arvense ( Cerastium arvense . Subsp calcicola (Schur) Borza ; Syn .: Cerastium arvense . Subsp chancroid . (Vill) Arcang. ): This lime-loving, subalpine and alpine subspecies preferred stony lawns, flowers from June to August and 10 up to 20 centimeters high. The leaves are 10 to 20 millimeters long, with the upper leaves forming a wide skin edge. The sepals are five to eight millimeters long and the fruits about one and a half to twice as long as the sepals. The number of chromosomes is 2n = approx. 72.
  • Cerastium arvense subsp. lerchenfeldianum (Schur) Ascherson & Graebner : It occurs in the Carpathian Mountains and in Yugoslavia.
  • Stiff field hornwort ( Cerastium arvense subsp. Strictum (WDJ Koch) Schinz & R.Keller ): This alpine subspecies grows in loose cushions in the alpine region up to heights of 3000 meters above sea ​​level and is only three to five centimeters high. Their stem is rarely hairy glandular. The somewhat egg-shaped lanceolate stem leaves are only 15 mm long and up to 4 mm wide. The petals are up to 11 millimeters and the sepals up to 6 millimeters long. The chromosome number is 2n = 36. It is a species of the Sedo-Scleranthion association.
  • Cerastium arvense subsp. suffruticosum (L.) Nyman : It occurs in the Alps and in the Apennines. The number of chromosomes is 2n = 36 or 108.

literature

  • Eckehart J. Jäger, Klaus Werner (Ed.): Excursion flora from Germany . Founded by Werner Rothmaler. 10th edited edition. tape 4 : Vascular Plants: Critical Volume . Elsevier, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Munich / Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-8274-1496-2 .
  • 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. ↑ W. iron calibration: BLV animal and plant leaders 15th edition. ISBN 3-405-15608-4 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 378.
  3. ↑ a b c d Jaakko Jalas, Juha Suominen: Atlas florae europaeae . Volume 6 (Caryophyllaceae (Alsinoideae and Paronychioideae)). Pages 94-95, Helsinki 1983. ISBN 951-9108-05-X

Web links

Commons : Cerastium arvense  - album with pictures, videos and audio files