Coptis

Coptis
Trifoliate gold thread ( Coptis trifolia )
Systematics
Class : Bedecktsamer (Magnoliopsida) Eudicotyledons Order : Buttercups (Ranunculales) Family : Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae) Subfamily : Coptoideae Genre : Coptis
Scientific name
Coptis
Salisb.

The plant genus Coptis , also called "gold thread", belongs to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). The range of about 10 to 15 species is in eastern Asia and North America . Some species are rarely used as ornamental plants , and the medicinal effects of many species have been studied.

description

Illustration of Coptis trifolia

Appearance and leaves

Coptis species grow as perennial herbaceous plants . They form underground, branched, yellow, orange to light brown rhizomes with a diameter of 0.5 to 2 millimeters as persistence organs and sometimes stolons .

There are some basal leaves . The petiole is relatively long. The leaf blade is three- to five-pinnate, one to two-pinnate or one to two-pinnate. The ovate to triangular leaflets are lobed to divided with sharply serrated or serrated edges.

Section of the inflorescence with a detailed view of the flowers of Coptis occidentalis

Collective fruit of Coptis occidentalis with many stalked follicles

Inflorescence and flowers

On one to a few upright inflorescence shafts per plant are terminal, monochasial, zymous inflorescences , which are initially up to 3 centimeters long, extend up to 9 centimeters to fruit ripeness and usually contain one to four flowers. Bracts are not available.

The relatively small flowers are radial symmetry . In Coptis trifoliata all flowers are hermaphroditic, but in the other species there are functionally male flowers in addition to hermaphroditic flowers. The usually five, rarely up to eight, white or greenish-yellow, often corolla-like sepals are flat and linear-lanceolate, obscure-lanceolate to obovate or elliptical with a length of 4.2 to 11 millimeters; they are nailed at times. The five to ten or more free nailed petals are greenish and 2 to 7 millimeters long and flat or concave above. The petals are either club-shaped with a nectarium at its tip or linear with a nectarium near its base. There are ten to 60 bald, fertile stamens . The stamens are thin and the anthers are broadly elliptical. There are no staminodes . The usually four to fifteen carpels each contain four to ten ovules . The durable stylus is short and curved back.

Fruits and seeds

Up to 15 follicles can be found together in an umbel-like collective crop. The stalked, elongated to ellipsoid follicles often have a up to 4 mm long, straight or hooked beak. The light to dark brown, glossy seeds are ellipsoidal and almost smooth, but often appear wrinkled.

Chromosomes

The basic chromosome number is x = 9.

Systematics and distribution

The genus Coptis was established in 1807 by Richard Anthony Salisbury in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 8, p. 305. As lectotype in 1913 Coptis trifolia (L.) Salisb. by NL Britton and A. Brown in Ill. Fl. NUS , 2nd edition. 2, p. 88. The generic name Coptis is derived from the Greek word kopto for cutting and refers to the divided leaves.

The genus Coptis belongs to the only tribe Coptideae of the subfamily Coptidoideae within the family Ranunculaceae .

The genus Coptis occurs in eastern Asia and North America . There are six species native to China and four species to North America. Coptis species thrive in temperate to boreal zones in the northern hemisphere.

Habit, leaves and inflorescences of five- leaf gold thread ( Coptis quinquefolia )

Habit, leaves and inflorescences of Coptis japonica

Habit, leaves and inflorescences of Coptis trifoliolata

The genus Coptis contains about 10 to 15 species:

• Stripe fern-leaved gold thread ( Coptis asplenifolia Salisb. ): It thrives in moist pine forests, seepage and moors at altitudes between 0 and 1500 meters in British Columbia , Alaska and Washington .
• Chinese gold thread ( Coptis chinensis Franch. ): The two varieties thrive in forests and shady locations in valleys at altitudes between 500 and 2000 meters in the Chinese provinces of southern Anhui , Fujian , northern Guangdong , northern Guangxi , Guizhou , Hubei , Hunan , southern Shaanxi , Sichuan and Zhejiang .
• Coptis deltoidea C.Y.Cheng & PKHsiao : This endemic thrives in forests at altitudes between 1600 and 2000 meters in western Sichuan only in Emeishan and Hongya .
• Japanese gold thread ( Coptis japonica (Thunb.) Makino , Syn .: Coptis anemonifolia Sieb. & Zucc. , Coptis anemonifolia var. Dissecta Yatabe , Coptis brachypetala Sieb. & Zucc. , Coptis brachypetala var. Major Miq. , Coptis japonica var. Anemonifolia (Sieb. & Zucc.) H. Ohba , Coptis japonica var. Dissecta (Yatabe) Nakai ex Satake , Coptis japonica var. Major (Miq.) Satake , Coptis japonica f. Viridiflora Honda ex Kadota , Coptis occidentalis var. Japonica Huth , Coptis orientalis Maxim. ): It occurs in at least three varieties in Japan.
• Coptis laciniata A.Gray : It thrives in damp forests, river banks, seepage and damp rock faces in the coastal mountains at altitudes between 500 and 2000 meters in California , Oregon and Washington.
• Coptis minamitaniana Kadota : It was described in 2004 and occurs only on the Japanese island of Kyushu .
• Coptis occidentalis (Nutt.) Torr. & A.Gray : It thrives in moist pine forests at altitudes between 500 and 2000 meters in Idaho , Montana, and Washington.
• Coptis omeiensis (C.Chen) CYCheng : It thrives on rock faces and crevices at altitudes between 1000 and 1700 meters in the Chinese provinces of Henan and western Sichuan ( Emeishan and adjacent areas).
• Fünfblättriger gold thread ( Coptis quinquefolia . Miq , Syn .: Coptis morii Hayata , Coptis quinquefolia var. Pedatoquinquefollia Koidz. , Coptis quinquefolia f. Ramosa Makino , Coptis quinquefolia var. Ramosa (Makino) Ohwi , Coptis ramosa (Makino) Tamura ): It thrives in forests in Taiwan and Japan.
• Coptis quinquesecta (WTWang ): This endemic thrives in dense forests at altitudes between 1700 and 2500 meters in southeastern Yunnan , only in the autonomous district of Jinping .
• Yunnan gold thread ( Coptis teeta Wall. , Syn .: Coptis teetoides C.Y.Cheng ): It thrives in evergreen laurel forests at altitudes between 1500 and 2300 meters only in northwestern Yunnan ( Gongshan Autonomous County ) and southeastern Tibet .
• Coptis trifolia ( Coptis trifolia (L.) Salisb. , Syn .: Helleborus trifolius L. , Anemone groenlandica Oeder , Coptis groenlandica (Oeder) Fernald , Coptis trifolia subsp. Groenlandica (Oeder) Hultén , Coptis trifolia var. Groenlandica (Oeder) Fassett ): It thrives in moist to moderately moist coniferous and mixed forests, swamps, willow bushes and on the tundra, often together with mosses, at altitudes between 0 and 1500 meters in eastern Eurasia , in Greenland as well as in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon , and in Canada : Alberta , British Columbia , Manitoba , New Brunswick , Newfoundland and Labrador , Northwest Territories , Nova Scotia , Ontario Prince Edward Island , Québec and Saskatchewan , and in the US states : Alaska , Connecticut , Indiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , Ohio , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , Vermont , West Virginia and Wisconsin .
• Coptis trifoliolata (Makino) Makino (Syn .: Coptis oligodonta (Maek.) Satake , Coptis quinquefolia var. Stolonifera Makino , Coptis quinquefolia var. Trifoliolata Makino , Coptis trifoliolata var. Oligodonta Maek. ): It occurs, for example, on Sakhalin .

Dried rhizomes of Coptis japonica

use

Some species are rarely used as ornamental plants in gardens in rock gardens and bog beds, they are so-called ground cover.

The underground plant parts of some species are used as a drug . The medicinal and cosmetic effects were examined. A yellow dye is obtained from the subterranean plant parts of Coptis chinensis and Coptis occidentalis . Coptis trifolia was used as a flavoring and coloring agent for beverages and all parts of the plant are said to have been eaten, but the toxicity has to be considered.

Coptis chinensis and Coptis teeta are used in traditional Chinese medicine .

swell

• Bruce A. Ford: Coptis - the same text online as the printed work , In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Nancy R. Morin: Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 3: Magnoliophyta: Magnoliidae and Hamamelidae. Oxford Univ. Press, 1997, ISBN 0-19-511246-6 . (Section description, system and occurrence)
• Fu Dezhi, Orbélia R. Robinson: In: Flora of China. Volume 6: Coptis , p. 305 - the same text online as the printed work , In: Flora of China Editorial Committee (Ed.): ZY Wu, Peter H. Raven: Volume 6: Caryophyllaceae through Lardizabalaceae. Science Press / Missouri Botanical Garden, 2001, ISBN 1-930723-05-9 . (Section Description, Distribution and Use)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Coptis at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
2. ↑ Coptis in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
3. ↑ Yuichi Kadota: Journal of Japanese Botany , Volume 79, No. 5, 2004, p. 312.
4. ↑ Coptis chinensis , Coptis deltoidea , Coptis japonica , Coptis occidentalis , Coptis teeta and Coptis trifolia in Plants for a Future .

Web links

Commons : Coptis  - collection of images, videos and audio files