Arctic fireweed
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Arctic willowherb ( Epilobium latifolium ) |
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| Epilobium latifolium | ||||||||||||
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The arctic willowherb ( Epilobium latifolium ) is a species of the evening primrose family (Onagraceae). It is distributed around the circumference .
description
Appearance and leaf
The arctic willowherb grows as a perennial herbaceous plant and usually reaches heights of 12 to 35 centimeters. It forms dense colonies with thick, woody rhizomes . Many wiry roots are formed. The mostly simple, upright stems are glabrous in the lower area and sparsely or rarely densely hairy in the upper area.
The foliage leaves , arranged in a spiral on the stems, are basal and alternate and are sessile or 2 mm long with stalk. The simple leaf blades of the brown basal leaves are triangular-ovate with a length of 5 to 10 mm. The simple leaf blades of the green, blue-green or light green stem leaves are 2 to 5 (rarely up to 8) cm long and 0.6 to 1.7 (rarely up to 2.6) cm wide, elliptical or ovate to lanceolate-elliptical with a wedge-shaped or sometimes almost blunt base of the blade and a blunt or pointed upper end. The leaf margin is almost completely dotted and serrated with four to seven teeth distant. The leaf surfaces are almost bald to bristly hairy, especially on the leaf veins . There are three or four indistinct side veins on each side of the main vein. Stipules do not exist.
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Inflorescence and flower
The flowering time is mostly in the months of July and August; in China it ranges from June to August. The simple inflorescence is more or less hairy bristly and contains up to 15 flowers. The leaf-like bracts are about half as long as the stem leaves. The flower buds are erect and the flowers hang early during the anthesis .
The hermaphrodite flowers are slightly zygomorphic at a height of 3 to 5 centimeters and four-fold with a double flower envelope . The four free sepals have a length of 1 to 1.6 cm and a width of 1.5 to 3.5 mm. The four free petals have a length of 1 to 2.4 (rarely up to 3.2) cm and a width of 0.7 to 1.5 (rarely up to 2.3) cm. The colors of the petals can vary greatly: on the one hand there are strong dark-flowered, purple-red, pink-purple or pink-colored forms, on the other hand you can also find almost white-flowered specimens. The strictly protandric flowers produce nectar through a raised disc at the base of the stamens and styles. There are two circles with four stamens each. Four carpels have become an under-earth, vierkammerigen ovary grown, the purple-green and 1 to 2 cm long and has fine hairs white. The bald, 3.5 to 8 mm long stylus is initially curved downwards, later upright and ends in a deep four-lobed scar.
Fruit and seeds
The fruit stalk is 1.2 to 2.5 cm long. The bristly hairy, quadruple capsule fruit is 2.5 to 8 cm long and contains many seeds. The 1.2 to 2.1 mm long and 0.4 to 0.6 mm wide seeds have an irregular low net-like surface. On the seeds there is a tuft of 9 to 15 mm long, tan to dark, silky hair that does not fall off early. In China, the fruits ripen between August and October.
Chromosome number
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 36 or 72.
Flower ecology
Compared to its southern relative, the narrow-leaved willowherb , the arctic willowherb has adapted its flowers to the insect poverty of higher latitudes. Insect pollination rarely occurs here. The stamens of the Arctic fireweed are slightly longer than the carpels and allow self-pollination .
Occurrence
The arctic willowherb is distributed around the circumference and limited to the high mountains in the south of its area. In Europe, it occurs only in Iceland and northern Russia . It is much more widespread in Asia, where this species extends southward from Arctic Siberia over the Central Asian high mountains to the Himalayas . In Tibet and the Chinese provinces of Qinghai , Xinjiang , and northwestern Yunnan , it thrives at altitudes of 1,600 to 5,200 meters. In North America it is also widespread from Alaska to Canada to Greenland and in the western states of the USA southwards to California .
The arctic willowherb can occur in small or larger groups - preferably on rivers, on sandy, gravelly or stony ground, but also on scree slopes and dry heath.
Taxonomy
The first publication was made of this kind in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus under the name Epilobium latifolium L. in Species Plantarum . When separating from Epilobium , Chamaenerion latifolium (L.) Sweet is the valid name. The synonym Chamerion latifolium (L.) Holub , published in 1972 by Josef Holub , is also widely used . Other synonyms are: Chamaenerion halimifolium Salisb. , Chamaenerion latifolium (L.) Th.Fr. & Lange , Epilobium changaicum Grubov , Epilobium kesamitsui Yamazaki .
National flower
The arctic willowherb is the national flower of Greenland . Its Greenlandic name Niviarsiaq means "young girl". The Siumut party uses it as a distinguishing mark.
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literature
- Jiarui Chen, Peter C. Hoch, Peter H. Raven: Chamerion latifolium. In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Eds.): Flora of China . tape 13 : Clusiaceae through Araliaceae . Science Press / Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing / St. Louis 2007, ISBN 978-1-930723-59-7 , pp. 410 (English, online ). (Sections Description, Distribution and Systematics)
- Benny Génsbøl: A nature and wildlife guide to Greenland. Gyldendahl Publ., Copenhagen 2004, ISBN 87-02-02965-0 .
- TW Böcher, K. Holmen, K. Jakobsen: Grønlands Flora. 2nd Edition. P. Haase & Søns, Copenhagen 1966.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Jiarui Chen, Peter C. Hoch, Peter H. Raven: Chamerion latifolium. In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Eds.): Flora of China . tape 13 : Clusiaceae through Araliaceae . Science Press / Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing / St. Louis 2007, ISBN 978-1-930723-59-7 , pp. 410 (English, online ).
- ^ PH Raven: Epilobium. In: TG Tutin, VH Heywood, NA Burges, DM Moore, DH Valentine, SM Walters, DA Webb (eds.): Flora Europaea . Volume 2: Rosaceae to Umbelliferae . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1968, ISBN 0-521-06662-X , pp. 309 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ USDA Plants Profile: Chamerion latifolium .
- ↑ Carl von Linné: Species Plantarum. Volume 1, Lars Salvius, Stockholm 1753, p. 347 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Alexander N. Sennikov: Chamerion or Chamaenerion (Onagraceae)? The old story in new words. In: Taxon. Volume 60, No. 5, 2011, pp. 1485-1488 ( abstract ).
- ↑ Josef Holub: Taxonomic and nomenclatural remarks on Chamaenerion auct. In: Folia Geobotanica et Phytotaxonomica. Volume 7, No. 1, 1972, p. 86, DOI: 10.1007 / BF02856384 .
- ↑ Chamerion latifolium at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed February 24, 2012.
- ↑ Chamerion latifolium in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
