Heath vetch

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Heath vetch
Heath vetch (Vicia orobus)

Heath vetch ( Vicia orobus )

Systematics
Order : Fabales (Fabales)
Family : Legumes (Fabaceae)
Subfamily : Butterflies (Faboideae)
Tribe : Fabeae
Genre : Sweet peas ( Vicia )
Type : Heath vetch
Scientific name
Vicia orobus
DC.

The heather vetch ( Vicia orobus ) is a species of the genus vetch ( Vicia ) in the subfamily of the butterflies (Faboideae). It is mainly found in Western Europe and is rare in Central and Northern Europe.

description

Habit, pinnate leaves and inflorescence
Herbarium record from 1979 - This species should not be collected in Germany because of its rarity and as an endangered species

Appearance and leaf

The heather vetch grows as a perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 15 to 40 centimeters. The early summer shoots of the heather vetch are more or less densely clad with shaggy woolly hair, the autumn shoots are bare. The upright or ascending stem is branched, light green, angular and grooved.

The alternate arranged leaves are feathered in pairs , 5 to 8 centimeters long, ending in a 1 to 4 mm long bespitzten spindle and usually have eight to twelve pairs pinna leaflet . The densely packed leaflets are 10 to 23 millimeters long and 3 to 7 millimeters wide and oval-elliptical to lanceolate with a rounded and short-pointed upper end, clearly reticulate and fresh green in color. The stipules are relatively large, semi-spear-shaped, the lower often weakly serrated.

Inflorescence and flower

The flowering time is mainly in the months of May to June and it sometimes flowers again in July to August. The racemose inflorescences are about 5 to 9 centimeters long, finally towering over the leaves, one-sided, and have sturdy, bald to shaggy stems. They have 10 to 15 flowers packed together . The flower stalks are 2 to 4 millimeters long.

The hermaphrodite flowers are zygomorphic at a height of 12 to 15 millimeters and five-fold with a double flower envelope. The calyx is about as long, wide-bellied, somewhat crooked and has short triangular calyx teeth separated by wide bays. The briefly nailed petals are yellowish or porcelain white and tinged with purple. The flag is obovate, edged, veined violet and somewhat longer than the narrow wings and the shuttle .

Fruits and seeds

The stalked legumes are 20 to 28 millimeters long and 4 to 7 millimeters wide. They are bare, many-seeded, and yellow-brown in color when ripe.

The seeds are elliptical-egg-shaped, compressed, smooth, brown and more or less spotted to black.

Chromosome number

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 12.

Occurrence

The heather vetch is a purely Atlantic, mostly sub-Atlantic floral element . Vicia orobus is mainly found in Western Europe. Its distribution area extends from northern Spain through southern, western and central France , the Swiss Jura and western Germany to the British Isles . It also occurs occasionally in Denmark . Their northernmost occurrence is in southern Norway . Smaller deposits may also still exist in the south of Jutland . In Central Europe only sites in the Swiss Jura near Neuchâtel and in Germany only on the edge of the High Fens (North Rhine-Westphalia), in the Spessart (Bavaria and Hesse) are known and it is also rare in these areas mentioned.

In Central Europe, the heather vetch populates the fringes of light forests, rough meadows , tall herbaceous meadows and bushes in heaths . It thrives in locations with a humid and mild winter climate . It rises in the Auvergne to an altitude of 1550 meters.

The heather vetch thrives best on low-lime or lime-free, loose, sandy loam soils . In Central Europe it is a species of the Trifolio-Vicietum orobi from the Trifolion medii association.

Danger

The Heide-Wicke was rated in 1996 in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in Germany as "critically endangered". Since the species occurs in protected areas, the IUCN classified it in 2010 as a “Least Concern” = “low risk”.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Vicia orobus DC., Heide-Wicke. In: FloraWeb.de.
  2. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 611.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The flowering plants of Central Europe . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : Yew family to butterfly family . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08048-X .
  4. ↑ Vicia orobus in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: L. Lopez Poveda, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2014.

literature

  • Gustav Hegi, H. Gams, H. Marzell: Illustrated flora of Central Europe. Pteridophyta, Spermatophyta . 2nd Edition. Volume IV. Part 3: Angiospermae: Dicotyledones 2 (5) (Leguminosae - Tropaeolaceae) . Carl Hanser and Paul Parey, Munich and Berlin / Hamburg 1964, ISBN 3-489-70020-1 (unchanged reprint from 1923-1924 with addendum).
  • Konrad von Weihe (ed.): Illustrated flora. Germany and neighboring areas. Vascular cryptogams and flowering plants . Founded by August Garcke. 23rd edition. Paul Parey, Berlin / Hamburg 1972, ISBN 3-489-68034-0 .
  • Christian Heitz: School and excursion flora for Switzerland. Taking into account the border areas. Identification book for wild growing vascular plants . Founded by August Binz. 18th completely revised and expanded edition. Schwabe & Co., Basel 1986, ISBN 3-7965-0832-4 .
  • Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora . With the collaboration of Theo Müller. 6th, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1990, ISBN 3-8001-3454-3 .

Web links

Commons : Heath vetch ( Vicia orobus )  - album with pictures, videos and audio files