Great witchweed
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Great witchweed ( Circaea lutetiana ) |
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The Great witchweeds ( Circaea lutetiana ), even ordinary witchweeds or Wicked Witch herb called, is a species of the genus circaea ( Circaea ) in the family Onagraceae (Onagraceae).
description
Vegetative characteristics
The large witch's herb is a perennial, herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 20 to 60, rarely up to 75 centimeters. On the rhizome there are decrepit bracts , as well as strong, at the end thickened runners at a depth of 10 to 20 centimeters . The upright stem is covered with soft hair.
The opposite arranged leaves are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The petiole is wingless. The simple leaf blade is heart-shaped to egg-shaped with a wedge-shaped base, curved toothed, pale green, mostly glabrous, but mostly hairy on the nerves.
Generative characteristics
Bracts are absent from the racemose inflorescence . The flowers are white. The two petals are not grown, with a length of 2 to 3 millimeters as long as the glandular calyx, deeply notched and indistinctly nailed. There are two stamens. The ovary is subordinate. The scar is bilobed.
The relatively small, obovate, double-sided fruit is an achenes ( Velcro fruit ) with bristly barbed hooks and contains two seeds each.
Chromosome number
The basic chromosome number is x = 11; there is diploidy with a chromosome number of 2n = 22.
ecology
The great witch herb is a rhizome - geophyte . The vegetative reproduction is lively and takes place through not very deep, thickened runners (rhizomes) . In winter the connection to the mother plant is already cut and the thickened runners are isolated. This makes the plant appear to be annual.
From an ecological point of view, these are homogeneous "nectar-bearing disc flowers". Hoverflies in particular act as pollinators . The flowering period extends from May to July.
Velcro spreads out.
Occurrence
The great witch's herb is native to Europe to Central Asia and Siberia and is also found in North Africa. It also settles in forests in deep shade and appreciates moist and nitrogenous clay soils . It is in Central Europe a weak Kennart the Association Alno Ulmion and also comes in other societies of order Fagetalia or dressing Alli Arion before. It is not endangered and not protected in Germany.
Systematics
One can distinguish the following subspecies:
- Circaea lutetiana subsp. canadensis (L.) Ash. & Magnus (Syn .: Circaea canadensis (L.) Hill ): It occurs in eastern North America.
- Circaea lutetiana subsp. lutetiana : It occurs in Eurasia and North Africa .
- Circaea lutetiana subsp. quadrisulcata (Maxim.) Ash. & Magnus (Syn .: Circaea quadrisulcata (Maxim.) Franch. & Sav. , Circaea canadensis subsp. Quadrisulcata (Maxim.) Boufford ): It occurs from Eastern Europe to East Asia and in places also in Central Europe (Carinthia, East Tyrol).
use
The great witch's herb is rarely used as an ornamental plant in gardens, a selected variety is 'Caveat Emptor', the leaves of which are spotted pink.
Common names
The other German-language trivial names exist or existed for the Great Hexenkraut: Bäschklät ( Transylvania ), Hexenkraut ( Bern , Mecklenburg , Göttingen ), St. Stephen's herb ( Silesia ) and Waldkletten.
proof
- Erich Götz: Determine plants with the computer , 2001, ISBN 3-8252-8168-X .
- Hans Simon, Leo Jelitto, Wilhelm Schacht: Die Freiland - Schmuckstauden , Volume 1, p. 219, 5th edition, 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3265-6 .
- 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 .
- Circaea lutetiana L., Greater witchweed. In: FloraWeb.de.
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. 690 .
- ↑ Circaea in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ↑ a b Jiarui Chen, David E. Boufford: Onagraceae. : Circaea Linnaeus - online with the same text as the printed work , In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Ed.): Flora of China. Volume 13: Clusiaceae through Araliaceae , Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis 2007, ISBN 978-1-930723-59-7 .
- ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, page 101. ( online ).
Web links
- Profile and distribution map for Bavaria . In: Botanical Information Hub of Bavaria .
- Great witchweed . In: BiolFlor, the database of biological-ecological characteristics of the flora of Germany.
- Circaea lutetiana L. In: Info Flora , the national data and information center for Swiss flora . Retrieved December 30, 2015.
- Distribution in the northern hemisphere according to Eric Hultén
- Thomas Meyer: Data sheet with identification key and photos at Flora-de: Flora von Deutschland (old name of the website: Flowers in Swabia )
