Spring light flower
| Spring light flower | ||||||||||||
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Spring light flower ( Colchicum bulbocodium ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Colchicum bulbocodium | ||||||||||||
| Ker Gawl. |
The spring light flower ( Colchicum bulbocodium ), also called light measurement flower or light flower, is a species of the genus Colchicum , which belongs to the timeless family (Colchicaceae). It blooms in late winter and spring.
description
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Colchicum bulbocodium is a perennial herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 5 to 15 cm. This geophyte forms a sprout as a perennial organ. The two to three basal leaves are dark green and lanceolate.
Up to three flowers per plant bloom for up to three weeks and are reminiscent of an overgrown crocus . The hermaphrodite flowers are threefold. The six equal-faceted bloom are interlocked into a tube and mostly purple-pink or rarely white in color. The stylus has three columns at the top. The flowering time is between the beginning of February and the end of April, depending on the weather.
A capsule fruit is formed. The seeds ripen in late spring and into summer.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 22.
Occurrence
Colchicum bulbocodium occurs in Central and Southern Europe, in the Pyrenees and the Alps, most commonly in Valais (Switzerland). They are rare, but then in pretty larger stocks. The occurrences are montane to subalpine, rarely colline, mostly at altitudes between 500 and 2000 meters. This species grows wild in full sun, damp in spring (when the snow melts) and summer-dry, alpine meadows.
It occurs in larger stocks in the Valais Alps (Switzerland) and in the Hungarian-Romanian-Ukrainian border area. In the Eastern Alps there is a single local occurrence on a steep slope of the Gerlitze near Villach ( Carinthia ). This site was only discovered by Rudolf Scharfetter in 1911 . The approximately 2 hectare area has been put under nature protection and is looked after by the Austrian Nature Conservation Union. Among other things, it was fenced in and spruce trees that were too high were removed to give the rare species enough light.
Their cultivated form is seldom planted in parks and gardens, especially in rock gardens as early bloomers.
Systematics
The first publication of this species was in 1753 under the name Bulbocodium vernum by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum , p. 294. The name Colchicum bulbocodium was published in 1807 by John Bellenden Ker-Gawler in Bot. Mag. , 26: Plate 1028. Synonyms for Colchicum bulbocodium Ker Gawl. are: Colchicum montanum auct. non L. , Bulbocodium ruthenicum Bunge , Bulbocodium vernum L. , Colchicum vernum (L.) Stef. , Merendera verna (L.) Bubani .
From Colchicum bulbocodium Ker Gawl. there are the following subspecies and varieties:
- Colchicum bulbocodium subsp. bulbocodium : It occurs in the Pyrenees, in the southwest and west-central Alps and in Carinthia.
- Colchicum bulbocodium var. Edentatum (Schur) K. Perss. : It occurs in Romania.
- Colchicum bulbocodium subsp. versicolor (Ker Gawl.) K. Perss. : It occurs from eastern Hungary and from central Italy to the Caucasus.
photos
Flower buds almost at ground level
Close up of the flower
Leaves in spring
Leaves with capsule fruit
The spring light flower biotope in Carinthia
Spring light flower from the Gerlitze
Colchicum bulbocodium subsp. versicolor in Ukraine
Individual evidence
- ↑ Profile at Botanik im Bild / Flora von Österreich , 2007.
- ^ Tropicos. [1]
- ↑ Rudolf Scharfetter (1911): Bulbocodium vernum L., new for the flora of the Eastern Alps ; Austrian Botanical Journal 61 (4): 126–131. Digitized
- ↑ a b c d e Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Colchicum bulbocodium. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved June 29, 2018.
