Large-flowered catchfly
| Large-flowered catchfly | ||||||||||||
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Large-flowered catchfly ( Silene elisabethae ) |
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| Silene Elizabethae | ||||||||||||
| Jan |
The large-flowered cucumber ( Silene elisabethae ), also called Elizabeth's light carnation , is a species of the genus cucumber ( Silene ) within the carnation family (Caryophyllaceae). It is endemic to the Southern Alps .
description
The large-flowered catchwort is a perennial herbaceous plant . It has a beet-shaped, heavily lignified primary root . The rosette leaves are slightly leathery, 3–6 (–12) cm long, lanceolate, pointed, glabrous or ciliate on the edge. The three to six pairs of leaves become smaller and smaller towards the top and increasingly glandular and tomentose.
The flowering period is between July and August. The flower stems are 8–30 cm high, ascending and glabrous or more or less hairy. The flowers are solitary or two or four in a dichasium . The relatively large flowers are hermaphrodite, radial symmetry and five-fold with a double flower envelope. The calyx is 18-25 mm long, ten-ribbed and slightly inflated. The calyx teeth are only one third to three quarters as long as the calyx tube; they are bordered in white. The five petals are red and 25–40 mm long; the plate is broadly inverted-heart-shaped with rounded lobes; the secondary crown is 3–6 mm long and bristly slit. The flower has three styles.
The capsule fruit is about 20 mm long, egg-shaped and enclosed in the calyx. The carpophor is very short. The seeds are about 1 mm long.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.
Occurrence
The large-flowered cucumber is endemic to the Italian southern Alps between Lake Como and Lake Garda .
The large-flowered cucumber occurs on humus and fresh limestone scree soils or grows in limestone or dolomite rock crevices in the plant community of the Caricetum firmae . It thrives at altitudes between 1400 and 2450 meters.
Taxonomy
The first description of Silene elisabethae was in 1832 by the Austrian botanist Georg Jan (1791–1866). The specific epithet elisabethae honors Maria Elisabeth of Savoyen-Carignan (1800-1856), the wife of Rainer of Austria (1783-1853), the viceroy of Lombardy-Veneto, ie the area in which the first specimens were found. Melandrium elisabethae (Jan) Rohrb is an important synonym .
literature
- Hermann Meusel , Helmut Mühlberg, Klaus Werner: Caryophyllaceae. Subfamily Silenoideae (Lindl.) A. Br. In: Karl Heinz Rechinger (Hrsg.): Illustrierte Flora von Mitteleuropa. Pteridophyta, Spermatophyta . Founded by Gustav Hegi. 2nd, completely revised edition. Volume III. Part 2: Angiospermae: Dicotyledones 1 (Phytolaccaceae - Portulacaceae) . Paul Parey, Berlin / Hamburg 1979, ISBN 3-489-60020-7 , pp. 1100–1101 (published in deliveries 1959–1979).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Xaver Finkenzeller, Jürke Grau: Alpenblumen (= Steinbach's natural guide . Volume 16 ). Mosaik, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-570-01349-9 , p. 48 .
