Sea thistle
| Sea thistle | ||||||||||||
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Sea thistle ( Eryngium maritimum ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Eryngium maritimum | ||||||||||||
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The sea thistle ( Eryngium maritimum ), also known as sea man litter , is a plant from the umbelliferae family (Apiaceae).
description
The biannual to perennial dune plant is 10 to 40 centimeters high and is equipped with a powerful, up to two meters deep-reaching tap root firmly anchored in the ground. The plant forms several strong stems that are covered with stiff, coarse, bristly leaves. The basal leaves are long stalked, the stem leaves short stalked, the upper stem leaves usually encompassing the stem. The blue-green leaves are palmately lobed. The whitish leaf edge is wavy. It forms several prongs that merge into a long, pointed thorn. The entire plant is frosted bluish to white by a layer of wax.
The sessile flowers are close together in almost spherical, thorny heads . Below the inflorescence there are egg-shaped, shallow three-lobed and thorny bracts , the edges of which overlap. The amethystblaue single flower is made up of five crown- and sepals and five yellow stamens together. The calyx tube, which is provided with small hook-shaped scales, ends in five distinctive spiky and ovoid-lanceolate calyx teeth. The tips of the elongated, egg-shaped petals incline inwards towards the center of the flower. The subordinate, double ovary merges into two long styluses that sit on a flat, glandular stylus cushion.
The flowering period is between June and October. The sea thistle is pollinated by butterflies and other insects, the seeds are spread by the wind. The plant contains saponins .
The bluish wax layer protects the beach thistle from evaporation and excessive sunlight. The wax retains the water in the plant and reflects the sun's rays. The extremely hard leaves are interpreted as an adaptation to drifting sand , the sharpness of which comes close to that of a sandblasting blower .
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 16.
Occurrence
The sea thistle can be found on the coasts of Europe on the salty sandy soils of the white dunes . It is a character species of the Elymo-Ammophiletum from the association of white dune societies (Ammophilion arenariae), but also occurs in the gray dune societies of Koelerion albescens. The area covers Northern Europe north to the Shetland Islands and the Norwegian south coast, the Baltic Sea coast to Öland, Gotland and the Baltic States, the Atlantic coast, south to the south of Morocco, the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It grows individually or in smaller groups, often accompanied by tufts of beach grass . It is widespread, but is considered to be endangered and belongs to the species whose populations are declining significantly in almost the entire domestic range or have regionally disappeared. In Germany, scattered stocks of the coasts of North Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein are known.
The sea thistle was voted Flower of the Year 1987 .
Protection status
According to the Federal Species Protection Ordinance , the wild stocks of plants in Germany are "particularly protected". Furthermore, the species is on the red list in Germany as "critically endangered" .
The endangerment of the beach thistle is justified in particular by illegal picking and digging as well as rabbit biting. The plant cannot compensate for picked inflorescences with new, renewable shoots. The lack of coastal dynamics in connection with coastal protection measures to define dunes also contributes significantly to the population reduction. The sea thistle is dependent on locations whose soils still contain nutrient salts from the sea. It can no longer thrive on gray or brown dunes. Planting the white dunes, for example to bind the drifting sand and thus increase protection against storm surges, destroy the locations of the sea thistle.
Common names
For the beach thistle the other common German names exist or existed : blue Diessel ( Weser Islands ), Kruysdistel ( Middle High German ), Maerwortel ( Middle Low German ), Marwortel (Middle Low German), Meerwortel (Middle Low German), Meerwurzel ( East Prussia ), Merruscherbese (Middle Low German), Merruscherbese (Middle Low German) (Middle Low German), Morddistel (Middle Low German), Mortdistel (Middle Low German), Mortedistel (Middle Low German) and Seemannstreu (East Prussia).
swell
- Dietmar Aichele, Marianne Golte-Bechtle: What is blooming there? Wild-growing flowering plants of Central Europe , Stuttgart, Franckh-Kosmos, 54th edition 1991, ISBN 3-440-05615-5 .
- Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany. A botanical-ecological excursion companion to the most important species . 6th, completely revised edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2005, ISBN 3-494-01397-7 .
- Werner Rothmaler (founder), Eckehart J. Jäger, Klaus Werner (ed.): Exkursionsflora von Deutschland. Volume 2. Vascular plants: base volume. 18., arr. Ed., Spektrum, Heidelberg et al., 2002, ISBN 3-8274-1359-1 .
- The sea thistle. Wadden Sea Protection Station, accessed on May 29, 2011 .
- Beach thistle (Eryngium maritimum), flower of the year 1987. Stiftung Naturschutz Hamburg and Stiftung Loki Schmidt, accessed on May 29, 2011 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 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. 700 .
- ↑ H. Meusel, E. Jäger, S. Rauschert, E. Weinert (1978): Comparative Chorology of Central European Flora, Vol. 2: Maps. Jena: Fischer.
- ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, page 146. ( online ).
Web links
- Eryngium maritimum. In: FloraWeb.de.
- Sea thistle . In: BiolFlor, the database of biological-ecological characteristics of the flora of Germany.
- Distribution in the Netherlands [1] (Dutch)
- Distribution in the northern hemisphere from: Eric Hultén, Magnus Fries: Atlas of North European vascular plants , 1986, ISBN 3-87429-263-0
- Carl von Linné: Species Plantarum 1, 1753, p. 233 (first description)
Lung Gentian (1980) | Yellow Daffodil (1981) | Red Forest Bird (1982) | Wild tulip (1983) | Summer Adonis (1984) | Wood Columbine (1985) | Arnica (1986) | Sea thistle (1987) | Marsh Calla (1988) | Carthusian Carnation (1989) | Mountain Sand Bells (1990) | Rosemary Heath (1991) | Round-leaved sundew (1992) | Checkerboard Flower (1993) | Broad-leaved orchid (1994) | Globeflower (1995) | Pasque Flower (1996) | Silver thistle (1997) | Crab Scissors (1998) | Marsh marigold (1999) | Purple Stone Seed (2000) | Blood-red cranesbill (2001) | Grove Violets (2002) | Kornrade (2003) | Alpenbellchen (2004) | Large rattling pot (2005) | Meadow foam herb (2006) | Bach avens (2007) | Nodding Thistle (2008) | Common Wegwarte (2009) | Siberian Iris (2010) | Moor lily (2011) | Heather Carnation (2012) | Hepatica (2013) | Swan Flower (2014) | Ordinary devil bite (2015) | Real cowslip (2016) | Corn Poppy (2017) | Long-Leaved Honorary Award (2018) | Common heather (2019) | Fever Clover (2020)