Germergewächse

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Germergewächse
Weißer Germer (Veratrum album), illustration from Koehler 1887

Weißer Germer ( Veratrum album ),
illustration from Koehler 1887

Systematics
Department : Vascular plants (tracheophyta)
Subdivision : Seed plants (Spermatophytina)
Class : Bedecktsamer (Magnoliopsida)
Monocots
Order : Lily-like (Liliales)
Family : Germergewächse
Scientific name
Melanthiaceae
Batsch ex Borkh.

The Germer family (Melanthiaceae), also called black flower family, are a family of plants in the order of the lily-like (Liliales). The 13 to 16 genera with around 170 species are mainly found in the temperate areas of the northern hemisphere ( Holarctic ). Only a few species are used by humans.

description

Illustration of the Mexican louse herb ( Schoenocaulon officinale ) from Koehler 1887
Flower of Trillium erectum with distinctly different bracts

Appearance and leaves

These are evergreen or seasonal green, mostly perennial herbaceous plants . They often form rhizomes or tubers as persistence organs. The hypocotyl is usually short.

The alternate, spirally or in whorls at Stem arranged leaves are simple, flat and entire. The leaf veins run either parallel, as is usual in the monocot, or in the Parideae like a network.

Inflorescences and flowers

Branchy, racemose , spiky or paniculate inflorescences are mostly formed. In the Parideae there is only one flower per stem.

The flowers are almost always hermaphroditic and mostly radial symmetry , in Chionographis zygomorphic . Like almost all monocot plants, the Melanthiaceae mostly have threefold flowers. The genus Einbeeren ( Paris ) differs from this with its four to eleven-fold flowers. There are two circles with mostly three bracts ; they are different or identical in the two circles, so they are tepals and form a perigone ; they can be free or overgrown. The colors of the bracts range from white to green, from yellow to brownish and from red to pink to purple. There are usually two circles with three stamens each. The most three upper permanent carpels are free or at a ovary grown. There are usually three free styles in each flower.

Fruits and seeds

Mostly follicles or capsule fruits are formed; some single berry species produce berries with few to many seeds in each of the three fruit compartments. The light colored seeds are often winged or with appendages.

Ingredients and chromosomes

At ingredients toxic are alkaloids , flavonoids and steroid saponins often. There are calcium oxalate embedded crystals.

The chromosomes are 1 to 6 µm long. The basic chromosome numbers in the Parideae are x = 5, Melianthieae often x = 8, in the Chionographideae often x = 12, in the Xerophylleae x = 15 and in the Helionadeae x = 17.

Tribus Chionographideae: inflorescences of Chamaelirium luteum
Tribe Heloniadeae: Helonias bullata
Tribe Heloniadeae: Heloniopsis orientalis
Tribus Melanthieae: inflorescence of Toxicoscordion paniculatum
Tribus Melanthieae: branched inflorescence of Veratrum stamineum
Tribus Parideae: Paris quadrifolia
Tribus Parideae: Paris japonica
Tribus Parideae: Large-flowered forest lily ( Trillium grandiflorum )
Tribus Xerophylleae: Beargrass ( Xerophyllum tenax )

Systematics and distribution

The areas of the taxa are mainly in the temperate areas of the northern hemisphere ( Holarctic ). Main areas of distribution are East Asia and eastern North America . The genus Schoenocaulon , which is also found in Peru , Venezuela and the Caribbean, is an exception . In Central Europe there is the one berry ( Paris quadrifolia ) and the white Germer ( Veratrum album ).

The family name Melanthiaceae was published in 1797 by August Johann Georg Karl Batsch in Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen : Botanical Dictionary , 2, 8. The type genus Melanthium was published in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum , 1, p. 339, the genus name of which is derived from the Greek words melas for black and anthos for flower and refers to the blackish bloom bracts (hence the common name black flower family). In Zomlefer et al. In 2006, based on molecular genetic investigations, the family was expanded to include the taxa of the Trilliaceae and Xerophyllaceae, resulting in a monophyletic taxon .

The taxa of the earlier independent families: Chionographidaceae Takht. , Heloniadaceae J.Agardh , Paridaceae Dum. , Trilliaceae Chevall. , Veratraceae Salisb. and Xerophyllaceae Takht. are now in the Germer family (Melanthiaceae Batsch ex Borkh. ). Taxa of this family were previously placed in the lily family (Liliaceae), for example Melanthioideae.

The Germer family (Melanthiaceae) includes 13 to 16 genera with around 170 species. The family is divided into five tribes:

  • Tribe Chionographideae: It contains one or two genera with around nine species. According to R. Govaerts, all ten species belong to the genus Chamaelirium .
    • Chamaelirium Willd. : With one to ten kinds. Including the type:
      • Chamaelirium luteum (L.) A.Gray : It thrives at altitudes between 0 and 1100 meters in eastern North America.
    • Chionographis Maxim. : It contains about five species in Asia. According to R. Govaerts, they are to be placed at Chamaelirium .
  • Tribe Heloniadeae: It contains one to three genera with one to nine species:
    • Helonias L .: It contains only one species:
    • Heloniopsis A.Gray : It contains five species in East Asia.
    • Ypsilandra Franch. : It contains five species in Asia from Nepal to China and Taiwan; all five species are also found in China.
  • Tribus Melanthieae: It contains six to seven genera with around 100 species:
    • Amianthium A.Gray : It contains only one species:
      • Amianthium muscitoxicum (Walter) A.Gray : It thrives at altitudes between 0 and 1,500 meters in the eastern and east-central United States.
    • Anticlea Kunth : The eleven or so species are widespread from Eastern Europe and Asia to North America and Guatemala.
    • Schoenocaulon A.Gray : Contains 24 to 26 species found from the southern United States to Venezuela, with a center of biodiversity in Mexico.
    • Stenanthium (A.Gray) Kunth (Syn .: Veratrum subg. Stenanthium A.Gray ): It contains four species that occur in North America from the central and eastern United States to Mexico.
    • Toxicoscordion Rydb. : The eight or so species are widespread from Canada to Mexico.
    • Germer ( Veratrum L .; Syn .: Melanthium L. ): It contains about 30 (previously up to 50) species in the northern hemisphere with a center of biodiversity in China (13 species) and only nine species in North America.
    • Cigadenus Michx. : It contains only one type:
  • Tribus Parideae (Syn .: Trilliaceae): There is network nerve and the flowers are solitary. It contains about three (to five) genera and about 80 species:
    • Berries ( Paris L. , including around 16 species from Daiswa Raf. And Kinugasa Tatew. & Sutô ): It contains around 28 species in Eurasia.
    • Pseudotrillium S.Farmer (belongs to Trillium for some authors ): It contains only one species:
      • Pseudotrillium rivale (S.Wats.) S.Farmer (Syn .: Trillium rivale S.Wats. ): It occurs from southwestern Oregon to northwestern California.
    • Forest lilies ( Trillium L. ): Contains 40 to 70 species in North America and Asia.
  • Tribe Xerophylleae: It contains only one genus with two species:
    • Xerophyllum Michx. : Of the only two species, one is common in eastern and the other in western North America.

Genera that were previously classified here:

use

The medicinal and insecticidal effects of several Veratrum species have been studied; note the high toxicity. Leaves and young plants are eaten by Chionographis japonica . The medicinal effects of Chamaelirium luteum have been studied. The Cherokee used Amianthium muscitoxicum in stings and the effects on the skin were studied. The subterranean plant parts of Melanthium virginicum were used against endo parasites , so the medicinal effects were investigated. The subterranean plant parts of Xerophyllum tenax are eaten cooked.

There are varieties of some Trillium species that are planted as ornamental plants in shady areas of parks and gardens.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Melanthiaceae. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved April 26, 2020.
  2. ^ A b Melianthaceae in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
  3. ↑ Wendy B. Zomlefer, W. Mark Whitten, Norris H. Williams & Walter S. Judd: Infrageneric phylogeny of Schoenocaulon (Liliales: Melanthiaceae) with clarification of cryptic species based on ITS sequence data and geographical distributions. , In: American Journal of Botany , 93, 2006, pp. 1178-1192.
  4. ↑ Wendy B. Zomlefer, W. Mark Whitten, Norris H. Williams & Walter S. Judd: An overview of Veratrum sl (Liliales: Melanthiaceae) and an infrageneric phylogeny based on ITS sequence data. , In: American Journal of Botany , 90, 2003, pp. 250-269.
  5. ↑ W.-J. Liao, Y.-M. Yuan & D.-Y. Zhang: Biogeography and evolution of flower color in Veratrum (Melanthiaceae) through inference of a phylogeny based on multiple DNA markers , In: Plant Systematics and Evolution , Volume 267, 2007.
  6. ↑ Susan B. Farmer & Edward E. Schilling: Phylogenetic Analyzes of Trilliaceae based on Morphological and Molecular Data , in Systematic Botany , Volume 27, Issue 4, 2002, pp. 674-692: Online. (PDF; 545 kB)
  7. ↑ Yunheng Ji, Peter W. Fritsch, Heng Li, Tiaijiang Xiao & Zheku Zhou: Phylogeny and Classification of Paris (Melanthiaceae) Inferred from DNA Sequence Data , In: Annals of Botany , Volume 98, Issue 1, 2006, p. 245– 256: Online. doi : 10.1093 / aob / mcl095
  8. ↑ Veratrum album , Veratrum californicum , Veratrum nigrum and Veratrum viride in Veratrum species in Plants for A Future . (engl.)
  9. ↑ Chionographis japonica at Plants for A Future . (engl.)
  10. ↑ Chamaelirium luteum at Plants for A Future . (engl.)
  11. ↑ Amianthium muscitoxicum at Plants for A Future . (engl.)
  12. ↑ Melanthium virginicum at Plants for A Future . (engl.)
  13. ^ Xerophyllum tenax at Plants for A Future . (engl.)

Web links

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