Alpine milk lettuce

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Alpine milk lettuce
Alpine milk lettuce (Cicerbita alpina)

Alpine milk lettuce ( Cicerbita alpina )

Systematics
Euasterids II
Order : Astern-like (Asterales)
Family : Daisy family (Asteraceae)
Subfamily : Cichorioideae
Genre : Milk lettuce ( Cicerbita )
Type : Alpine milk lettuce
Scientific name
Cicerbita alpina
( L. ) Wallr.

The Cicerbita Alpina ( Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallr. , Syn .: Lactuca alpina (L.) A.Gray , Mulgedium alpinum (L.) Less. ) Is a plant in the family of Compositae (Asteraceae).

description

illustration
Section of a whole bloom with cup-shaped partial inflorescences

Vegetative characteristics

The alpine milk lettuce is a perennial herbaceous plant that usually reaches heights of 60 to 140 (rarely up to 240) centimeters. The strong, usually unbranched stem is covered with dense brownish-red glands, bristly and purple.

The lower leaves are stalked. The leaves are lyre-shaped, pinnate with a triangular to spear-shaped end section, which often reaches sizes of over 10 centimeters in the lower leaves and three pairs of side lobes. The upper leaves are simple, sessile and partly encompassing the stem, with pointed tips. The leaves in the upper part of the plant, like the stem, are clearly hairy there, while in the lower and middle parts they are glabrous.

Generative characteristics

The flowering period extends from July to September. The traubig- panicles total inflorescence is usually much longer than wide, and contains many basket-shaped part inflorescences. The inflorescence shafts are hairy brown. The bracts are covered with long glandular hairs. The ray florets are blue-violet and about 2 centimeters in diameter.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 18.

Pigeon tail sucks on alpine milk lettuce

ecology

The alpine milk lettuce is a hemicryptophyte that grows in groups . He is a gullet root.

The pollination is done by bees , hoverflies and beetles . Self-pollination when the style branches are bent back is not possible. The flower heads are closed at night and when it rains.

Lots of greenish iridescent leaf beetles occasionally appear as pests, which can eat the leaves bare down to the veins.

The alpine milk lettuce can be attacked by the rust fungus Puccinia mulgedii .

Occurrence

The alpine milk lettuce is quite common in the Alps , especially at altitudes between 1000 and 2000 meters. It can also be found scattered in the higher low mountain ranges of Europe . Overall, it occurs in Spain, Andorra, France, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria , Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia. The species is naturalized in Iceland. In the Allgäu Alps, it rises at the northern foot of the Kratzers in Bavaria to an altitude of 2000 meters.

The alpine milk lettuce thrives on nutrient-rich soils that develop over limestone and silicate rock . It grows mainly in subalpine tall herbaceous meadows and in mountain forests. It is a character species of the Cicerbitetum alpinae, but also occurs in other societies of the Adenostylion association or in the Aceri-Fagetum.

use

The alpine milk lettuce is very popular with mountain farmers because it supposedly increases the milk yield of the cows. Numerous popular names such as milk herb, milk thistle, Schmettenwurz (Schmetten = cream), Chalberchernechrut refer to it. In some areas of western Switzerland it is collected as Tzougras especially for feeding purposes. The Sami eat the bitter-tasting stalks cooked in reindeer milk as a vegetable.

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 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c 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.  987 .
  2. ↑ Peter Zwetko: The rust mushrooms Austria. Supplement and host-parasite directory to the 2nd edition of the Catalogus Florae Austriae, III. Part, Book 1, Uredinales. (PDF; 1.8 MB).
  3. ↑ a b Werner Greuter (2006+): Compositae (pro parte majore). - In: W. Greuter & E. von Raab-Straube (eds.): Compositae. Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Datasheet Lactuca alpina In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.
  4. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 2, IHW, Eching 2004, ISBN 3-930167-61-1 , pp. 668-669.

Web links

Commons : Alpen-Milchlattich ( Cicerbita alpina )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files