Common adder head

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Common adder head
Common adder head (Echium vulgare)

Common adder head ( Echium vulgare )

Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Asterids
Euasterids I
Family : Boraginaceae (Boraginaceae)
Genre : Adderheads ( Echium )
Type : Common adder head
Scientific name
Echium vulgare
L.

The common viper head or blue viper head ( Echium vulgare ) is a species of the genus viper heads ( Echium ) within the predatory leaf family (Boraginaceae). In common parlance it is called "Blue Heinrich", in Austria also "Sky Fire", "Rigid Hansl" or "Proud Heinrich".

description

Stems with hairs ( indument )
Detail of an inflorescence with flowers
illustration
pollination

Vegetative characteristics

The common adder head is a biennial or perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 25 to 100 centimeters. It sometimes forms a beet as a storage organ. The stem is stiff and more or less rounded. The common adder's head has short, stiff "bristles" on stems and leaves. The bristle hairs are knotty thickened at the base. The evergreen leaves are linear and lanceolate and reach lengths of up to 10 centimeters.

Generative characteristics

The flowering period extends from May to October. Its flowers are in thyrsenic with simple coils . The flowers are five-fold with a double bloom and in contrast to the flowers of most other Boraginaceae are weakly zygomorphic . The petals are 15 to 22 millimeters long, initially pink to purple, later they turn blue to sky blue. The funnel-shaped corolla tube with uneven tips is characteristic. The stamens are unevenly long and protrude from the flower. The ovary is deep with four columns. The stylus has two columns and is basic between the clauses.

Common adder's head pollen (400 ×)

The Klausen fruits ( split fruits ) disintegrate into four small, smooth partial fruits, so-called Klausen .

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 32.

A wall fox on the common adder head

ecology

The common adder head is a dry plant and survives the winter as a hemicryptophyte with the help of its taproot.

From an ecological point of view, it is a question of male "throat flowers"; the protruding stylus and stamens serve as a landing place for the pollinators. The pollination carried out by insects , especially bees , hoverflies and moths ; the latter love to visit the flowers. Over 40 species of butterflies were observed as visitors. The main visit of the insects takes place around 3 p.m. The flowers change color from red to blue. Bees learn that only the pink flowers are rich in nectar . The gray-blue pollen is very small at 0.01 mm. The flowers are first male, then female ( pre- male ).

The spread of the diaspores , it is the Klausen, takes place through adhesive and Velcro effects, by the wind and by humans.

Diseases

The adder head is attacked by the rust fungus Puccinia recondita with spermogonia and aecidia .

Toxicity

The plant parts are for smaller warm-blooded animals by the content of allantoin and by pyrrolizidine alkaloids , z. B. Heliosupine, toxic. There is hardly any risk of poisoning in humans; sheep neutralize the active substances in their fore-stomachs . In small doses, the plant was used in folk medicine as a medicinal plant with diuretic , anti-inflammatory, sudorific, astringent and anti-rheumatic effects, but with prolonged use it has a liver-damaging and carcinogenic effect. Since the plant is a good pasture for bees, the honey can also be contaminated. Occasionally it is confused with the common ox tongue , which also contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids.

Occurrence

The common adder head is native to Europe , for example throughout Germany, and in the temperate zones of Asia. As a neophyte it occurs in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and in North and South America. It thrives in dry to semi-arid ruderal areas , on stony corridors, in sandy places and on dry silicate grass . It is typical for plant communities of the Sedo-Scleranthetea in the northern temperate latitudes. He is a character species of the Echio-Melilotetum. In the Allgäu Alps , it rises in the Tyrolean part of the Häselgehrberg near Häselgehr at altitudes of up to 1,600 meters.

A special feature is that the common adder's head can easily survive on soil contaminated with heavy metals. Investigations showed u. a. that the colonization of the adder's head on zinc and lead contaminated areas increases the genetic diversity of the plant on unpolluted areas.

Herbarium evidence of Echium vulgare subsp. pustular

Systematics

The first publication of Echium vulgare was by Carl von Linné . Synonyms for Echium vulgare L. are: Echium lycopsis L. nom. rej., Echium wierzbickii Rchb. , Echium asturicum Lacaita , Echium vulgare subsp. asturicum (Lacaita) G.Klotz .

Of Echium vulgare , there are about two subspecies:

  • Echium vulgare L. subsp. vulgar
  • Echium vulgare subsp. pustulatum (Sm.) Em. Schmid & Gams (Syn .: Echium argentae Pau , Echium caroli Sennen , Echium hispanicum Asso , Echium lacaitae Sennen , Echium vulnerans Merino ): It occurs in Spain, France, Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, in Croatia and Greece.

use

The common adder's head is used as an ornamental plant, for example in wild plant gardens .

The common adder head is a very good bee pasture . In beekeeping it is a valued sideline due to the high sugar content of its nectar (25%) and its very high sugar value (1.64 mg sugar / day per flower) . Honey yields of up to 429 kg per flowering season are possible on an area of ​​one hectare passed with it.

According to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment , honey from adder's head contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids , which bees enter into the honey through the pollen. It is therefore advisable to reduce the contamination of mixed honeys by choosing less contaminated raw honey.

Common names

The other German-language trivial names exist or existed for the common adder head : Eisenhart ( Eifel near Altenahr ), Frauenkrieg ( Silesia ), proud Heinrich ( Upper Saxony ), Knohf (Eifel near Dreis ), Natterkopf, Natterkraut, wild Ochsenzung, Otterkopf, Quäkerkutt, Saurüssel ( Austria ), snake head, stonetongue, false wayd, women's war and Zwongkrokt ( Transylvania ).

literature

  • Manfred A. Fischer, Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2005, ISBN 3-85474-140-5 .
  • Dankwart Seidel: Flowers. Determine accurately with the 3-check. 2nd, revised edition. blv, Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2001, ISBN 3-405-15766-8 .
  • Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait. 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 .

Web links

Commons : Common Adderhead ( Echium vulgare )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Echium . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 5, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 291.
  2. ↑ BiolFlor research system. Retrieved January 24, 2020 .
  3. ↑ 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 .
  4. ↑ Peter Zwetko: The rust mushrooms Austria. Supplement and host-parasite directory to the 2nd edition of the Catalogus Florae Austriae, III. Part, Book 1, Uredinales. (PDF; 1.8 MB).
  5. ↑ Description on tusplantasmedicinales.com (Spanish)
  6. ^ Echium on the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  7. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 2, IHW, Eching 2004, ISBN 3-930167-61-1 , p. 367.
  8. ↑ Dresler at al., 2015, Increased genetic diversity in the populations of Echium vulgare L. colonizing Zn – Pb waste heaps. In: Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. Volume 60, pp. 28-36, doi : 10.1016 / j.bse.2015.03.003
  9. ↑ a b Benito Valdés, 2011: Boraginaceae. : Datasheet Echium vulgare In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.
  10. ↑ Helmut Horn, Cord Lüllmann: Das große Honigbuch , Kosmos, Stuttgart 3rd edition 2006, p. 30, ISBN 3-440-10838-4
  11. ↑ Josef Lipp et al .: Handbook of apiculture: The honey . 3., rework. Aufl., Ulmer, Stuttgart 1994, p. 38, ISBN 3-8001-7417-0
  12. ↑ Questions and answers on pyrrolizidine alkaloids in food. (PDF) Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, August 4, 2014, accessed on November 12, 2015 .
  13. ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, page 138. ( online ).