European samphire

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European samphire
Salicornia europaea.jpg

European samphire ( Salicornia europaea agg. )

Systematics
Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family : Foxtail family (Amaranthaceae)
Subfamily : Salicornioideae
Tribe : Salicornieae
Genre : Samphire ( Salicornia )
Type : European samphire
Scientific name
Salicornia europaea agg.
"Trunk"
Autumn colors
Autumn colors

The European samphire ( Salicornia europaea - aggregate ) belongs to the foxtail family (Amaranthaceae). It is a group of very similar and difficult to distinguish species that is widespread in Eurasia . A distinctive feature of these plants are their fleshy, apparently articulated and leafless, annual shoot axes. They are the first to colonize the often flooded tidal flats of the sea ​​coasts and salt areas in the inland. The samphire is also known as sea ​​fennel , sea ​​bean , sea ​​asparagus , glass melt or glass lard .

description

Samphire are annual, stem succulent plants that reach heights of between 5 and 45 centimeters. They are salt plants (halophytes). They are green, dirty-reddish or green-yellow in color. In autumn the samphire takes on an intense reddish color, in other forms yellowish color. The stem is depending on the subspecies more or less upright or branched prostrate, thick flesh-glazed with reduced into flakes sheets berinden the stem, whereby the plants appear articulated to nodular structured.

The flowering period extends from June to September. As a rule, one to three flowers are sunk into depressions between a tiny bract and the main axis. The extremely inconspicuous flowers are hermaphroditic. There are fruit capsules formed by the sack-shaped, spongy Perigon are enveloped. They are also called salt extractors .

Location

The main distribution area are the coasts of the moderate latitudes of the northern hemisphere from Europe to Asia (China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia), so the northern Eurasia . The plants form large stocks in the tidal areas of the North and Baltic Seas, on the Atlantic coast and in the Mediterranean area . The samphire can penetrate the furthest from the sea due to its high tolerance to flooding and salt. Here it forms the so-called samphire zone and often grows together with the salt silt grass , which is the only other land plant that can penetrate just as far. The samphire prefers silty, but also salty sandy soil.

Pannonia glass malt ( Salicornia perennans ) in Seewinkel

The samphire can also be found inland on salty soils. Here it is the cryptic species Pannonia glass malt ( Salicornia perennans ), which belongs to the Salicornia europaea species group and differs genetically from the populations of the seashore. In Austria it occurs scattered on salt sites in the Pannonian area of Burgenland , especially in Seewinkel . Former deposits near Zwingendorf have expired. In Austria the species is considered endangered.

Socialization

Salicornia europaea thrives in Central Europe in societies of the order Thero-Salicornietalia.

Systematics and distribution

Due to the succulence , the greatly reduced morphology and the great variability, the taxonomic classification turned out to be extremely difficult. Provisionally several small species were distinguished by 2011 in Germany: Delicate short ears samphire ( Salicornia europaea subsp. Europaea ), Common short ears samphire ( Salicornia europaea subsp. Brachystacha ) Sandwatt samphire ( Salicornia procumbens ) and mudflats samphire ( Salicornia stricta ). It was not until 2012 that Kadereit et al. Using molecular genetic studies, divide the Eurasian representatives into two species groups with four species:

  • Salicornia europaea species group. With one to three flowers per cyme, the two lateral flowers are significantly smaller than the central flower. Chromosome number 2n = 18. With two cryptospecies that are genetically different but morphologically the same:
    • Salicornia europaea L. (= short-eared samphire ), with three subspecies
      • Salicornia europaea subsp. europaea , on the sea coasts from southern Spain to northern Scandinavia. You always have three flowers per cyme . The numerous synonyms include Salicornia annua Sm. , Salicornia appressa Dumort. , Salicornia brachystachya (G.Mey.) D.Koenig , Salicornia gracillima (F.Towns.) Moss , Salicornia herbacea L. , Salicornia herbacea var. Brachystachya G.Mey. , Salicornia herbacea var. Pusilla Hook.f. , Salicornia herbacea var. Ramosissima Hook.f. , Salicornia obscura P.W.Ball & Tutin , Salicornia pusilla (Hook.f.) ES Marshall , Salicornia pusilla var. Gracillima F.Towns. , Salicornia ramosissima (Hook.f.) ES Marshall and Salicornia smithiana Moss .
      • Salicornia europaea subsp. disarticulata ( Moss ) Lambinon & Vanderpoorten (Syn. Salicornia disarticulata Moss. ). It has only one flower per cyme. The subspecies is common on the Atlantic coasts of Brittany, the Netherlands and southern England.
      • Salicornia europaea subsp. × marshallii Lambinon & Vanderpoorten , with one to three flowers per cyme, is a hybrid of the two previous subspecies. It occurs on the Atlantic coast of Brittany and the Netherlands.
    • Salicornia perennans Willd. ( Syn.Salicornia prostrata Pallas ) (= Pannonia glass lard ), with two subspecies:
      • Salicornia perennans subsp. perennans . It is widespread Mediterranean-continentally from North Africa and the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea and the White Sea (in places also on the Atlantic and the North Sea), via Asia to Yakutsk (Siberia), Japan and Korea. Synonyms are Salicornia prostrata Pallas , Salicornia herbacea var. Prostrata Moq. , Salicornia acetaria Pallas , Salicornia herbacea var. Acetaria (Pall.) Moq. , Salicornia prostrata subsp. simonkaiana Soó , Salicornia patula Duval-Jouve , Salicornia duvalii A.Chev. and Salicornia europaea subsp. duvalii (A.Chev.) Maire . It has often been misidentified as "Salicornia ramosissima".
      • Salicornia perennans subsp. altaica ( Lomon. ) G. Kadereit & Piirainen , ( Syn.Salicornia altaica Lomon. ) only in the Altai (Russia, Mongolia)
  • Salicornia procumbens species group:
    • Salicornia procumbens Sm. (= Sand floss / silt flood source ). The three flowers per cyme are almost the same size. Chromosome number 2n = 36 or 18. With four subspecies:
      • Salicornia procumbens subsp. procumbens . Widespread on the coasts of the Mediterranean and Atlantic from Morocco to Scandinavia, also inland (Turkey, Ukraine). Synonyms are Salicornia borysthenica Tzvelev , Salicornia dolichostachya Moss , Salicornia emericii Duval-Jouve , Salicornia fragilis P.W.Ball & Tutin , Salicornia lutescens P.W.Ball & Tutin , Salicornia oliveri Moss , Salicornia emericii var. Peltii Gehu, Gehu-Franck & Caron , Salicornia herbacea var . stricta G.Mey. , Salicornia procumbens var. Stricta (G.Mey.) J.Duvign. & Lambinon , Salicornia strictissima Gram , Salicornia dolichostachya subsp. strictissima (Gram) PWBall , Salicornia veneta Pignatti & Lausi , Salicornia ramosissima var. vicensis J.Duvign. and Salicornia vicensis (J.Duvign.) J.Duvign .
      • Salicornia procumbens subsp. freitagii ( Yaprak & Yurdak. ) G. Kadereit & Piirainen (Syn. Salicornia freitagii Yaprak & Yurdak. ). Free tip of the leaf clearly pointed, inflorescences 1.5–3 cm long. Endemic to Central Anatolia (Turkey).
      • Salicornia procumbens subsp. pojarkovae ( Semenova ) G. Kadereit & Piirainen , on the coasts of the White Sea (Russia) and the Barents Sea (Norway). Synonyms are Salicornia pojarkovae Semenova and Salicornia dolichostachya subsp. pojarkovae (Semenova) Piirainen .
      • Salicornia procumbens subsp. heterantha ( SS Beer & Demina ) G. Kadereit & Piirainen (Syn. Salicornia heterantha S.S.Beer & Demina ), only in the Rostov province in south-east European Russia.
    • Salicornia persica Akhani , with two subspecies:
      • Salicornia persica subsp. persica , in Iran
      • Salicornia persica subsp. iranica ( Akhani ) G. Kadereit & Piirainen (Syn. Salicornia iranica Akhani ), in Iran, probably also in the Eastern Mediterranean and in Southwest Asia.

ecology

Samphire are the first to settle in the silting zones, often following seagrass meadows . Thanks to their high salt tolerance, samphire already grow in the floodplain and thus contribute to the attachment, as well as the accumulation and binding of suspended matter. This process, also called sedimentation , gradually leads to silting up .

As obligate halophytes, samphire are pronounced salt plants. Of all flowering plants they tolerate the highest levels of salt. In culture experiments that samphire unlike was found Andel grass or trident on floors without salt with stunted responding. The samphire uses succulence as a strategy to tolerate salty soils. Succulence is a strategy for diluting the ingested salts. With the salt ions , water is also absorbed and stored in the large vacuoles . This prevents too high an intracellular salt concentration. In the case of the annual samphire, the vegetation cycle ends when the salt concentration becomes fatal. The salt-overloaded plant turns brown to red, a symptom of stress, and eventually dies.

The seeds need fresh water to germinate and therefore only germinate after rain or flooding. After germination, the young plant can tolerate the full concentration of sea salt. The up to 10,000 seeds per plant are only released after they have died. They keep a long germination capacity in the soil (up to 50 years). The fresh seedlings develop in spring. The young plants grow quickly. In August, the inconspicuous flowers are pollinated by the wind.

In winter, samphire seeds driven in the rinsing fringe are an important source of food for the songbirds mountain hippopotamus , snow bunting , mountain finch , lark and black siskin .

use

The samphire is edible and is also called sea asparagus or salicorn (French salicorne). It is a valuable wild vegetable with a slightly peppery taste and can be eaten raw , blanched or as a filler in salted vinegar or as a side dish. The young plant is harvested by hand from May. Only the tips are processed.

Since the roots reach into the seawater as well as into the clay surrounding the saline , the sea asparagus contains nutrients and minerals from the sea and the intermediary clay, for example sodium , potassium , magnesium , sulfur , calcium , phosphorus , iron , zinc , manganese , copper . It is also a natural source of iodine with a high biological value.

The ashes of the samphire used to be used in soap production . In the glass-blowing workshop , it was buried in the glass to lower its melting point , hence the name glass melt .

Literature and Sources

  • Henning Haeupler , Thomas Muer: picture atlas of the fern and flowering plants of Germany (= the fern and flowering plants of Germany. Volume 2). Published by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3364-4 .
  • O. Röller & F. Schlesiger: Blooming wilderness Spiekeroog , Verlag Hermann Lietz-Schule Spiekeroog, 2005, ISBN 3-925754-49-0
  • Klaus Janke, Bruno Kremer: Dune, Beach and Wadden Sea Kosmos Nature Guide , Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung Stuttgart, ISBN 3-440-05759-3
  • Georg Quedens : Beach and Wadden Sea , BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich Vienna Zurich, ISBN 3-405-15108-2
  • Species information in Flora Web [1]
  • Gudrun Kadereit, Mikko Piirainen, Jacques Lambinon & Alain Vanderpoorten: Cryptic taxa should have names. Reflections on the glasswort genus Salicornia (Amaranthaceae) . Taxon 61: 2012, pp. 1227-1239. (for the section systematics and dissemination)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Manfred A. Fischer, Karl Oswald, Wolfgang Adler: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 3rd, improved edition. Province of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2008, ISBN 978-3-85474-187-9 , p. 360 .
  2. ^ 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. 352 .
  3. ↑ Werner Rothmaler (greeting), Eckehart J. Jäger (ed.): Exkursionsflora von Deutschland. Vascular plants: baseline. 20th edition, Spektrum, Heidelberg et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-8274-1606-3 , p. 606.
  4. ↑ Gudrun Kadereit, Mikko Piirainen, Jacques Lambinon & Alain Vanderpoorten: Cryptic taxa should have names. Reflections on the glasswort genus Salicornia (Amaranthaceae) . Taxon 61: 2012, pp. 1227-1239.
  5. ↑ a b Thorsten-D. Künnemann: Salt marshes. Survival between land and sea. With illustrations by Gunnar Gad. Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 1997, page 64f. ISBN 3-89598-414-0 .

Web links

Commons : Salicornia europaea  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Salicornia perennans  - album with pictures, videos and audio files