Chickweed
| Chickweed | ||||||||||||
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Illustration of chickweed ( Honckenya peploides ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Honckenya | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Honckenya peploides | ||||||||||||
| ( L. ) Ehrh. |
The Salzmiere ( Honckenya peploides ), also Strandportulak called, is the only species of the genus Honckenya in the family of the Pink family (Caryophyllaceae). This low- growing beach plant is so resilient that it can withstand life in the busy beach zone and is therefore a valuable helper in coastal protection . It forms larger mats in suitable places. They are found circumpolar on the sea coasts of Eurasia and North America .
description
Vegetative characteristics
The chickweed grows as an evergreen, perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 10 to 30 cm. This salt plant (halophyte) has succulent leaves. It forms an extensive root system. If it is buried under the sand, it sends new stems up. The bald, fleshy stem is prostrate to ascending, square to rounded and rooted at the nodes .
The yellow-green leaves that sit on the stem are arranged cross-opposite . As an adaptation to the beach location, the leaves are provided with salt glands through which excess salt can be excreted. The bald and thick-fleshed leaf blades are egg-shaped with a length of one to four centimeters and a width of 3 to 20 mm. There are no stipules.
Generative characteristics
The flowering period extends from May to August. There is only one flower sitting on the end of a stem branch, each of which arises from the leaf axils and thus forms the inflorescence , a sham umbel.
The inconspicuous flowers are five-fold. There are five ovate-lanceolate sepals . The five white-greenish to ivory-colored petals are elongated ovoid and entire. The two to three millimeters long petals are about as long as the sepals. In addition to unisexual, there are also hermaphrodite flowers. There are three styles of female and hermaphrodite flowers . The stamens and petals of the female flowers are stunted, while the male flowers do not develop styles.
The seeds ripen from June to September. With a diameter of six to ten mm, the capsule fruit , which is almost spherical, opens with three flaps, from which the seeds fall out when moving. The teardrop-shaped, smooth, chestnut-brown seeds are two to four millimeters long.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 68.
Occurrence and ecology
The chickweed is distributed in several circumpolar subspecies on almost all northern coasts of Eurasia and North America. They settled on unconsolidated foredunes and Spülsäumen the coasts until just prior to Flutsaum. In these exposed areas, it not only withstands sand drifts and flooding with sea water, but also the drying winds and the blazing sun. It is widespread on unaffected sections of the sea coast. It is characteristic of the plant-sociological association Salsolo-Honckenyion peploides (salt-herb-rinsing-fringe societies). It needs sunny places in moist to wet saline sand with a chloride content of up to 0.9%.
Their survival buds are both underground ( geophyte ) and on the surface ( hemicryptophyte ). It occurs in larger, sometimes stock-forming groups. The species also spreads vegetatively via the rooting of the stem nodes.
The pollination occurs rarely insects , but are pollen carried by drifting sand from flower to flower; this type of wind propagation is very rare. The hermaphroditic flowers can also pollinate themselves .
Systematics
This species was in 1753 under the name Arenaria peploides by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum , 1, p 423 first published . In 1783 Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart established the genus Honckenya with her as the type species Honckenya peploides in Neues Magazin fur Aerzte , 5, p. 206. The generic name Honckenya honors the German botanist Gerhard August Honckeny (1724–1805). Another synonym for Honckenya peploides (L.) Ehrh. is Minuartia peploides (L.) Here .
Four subspecies of the chickweed ( Honckenya peploides (L.) Ehrh. ) Are distinguished:
- Honckenya peploides subsp. diffusa (Hornem.) Hultén : The main stem has numerous nodes at a distance of five to thirty millimeters. It is evenly covered with leaves and is roughly the same length as the lateral stems. The seeds are yellowish to reddish brown. This subspecies blooms in summer and is particularly common in the arctic regions of Eurasia and North America.
- Honckenya peploides subsp. major (Hook.) Hultén : The main stem has only a few nodes and the pairs of leaves on it are far apart, and it is significantly longer than the side stems. The main distribution areas are the west coast of North America and the northern Pacific coasts of East Asia.
- Honckenya peploides subsp. peploides : The main distribution area is the European sea coasts.
- Honckenya peploides subsp. robusta (Fernald) Hultén : Plant with a few ascending stems, which are too weak to stand upright with only a few simple branches. Branching knot on the main stem every 10 to 55 mm. The sepals are four to seven millimeters longer and blunt at the tip. Main distribution area is the North American east coast.
use
The young sprouts are rich in vitamin C and A. They can be consumed raw or cooked and have a sour taste. They should be best while the plant is not yet in bloom. The preparation in the form of sauerkraut is common. In Iceland, chickweed is placed in whey and fermented into liqueur.
Sources and further information
The article is mainly based on the following documents:
Individual evidence
- ↑ Oskar Sebald : Guide through nature. Wild plants of Central Europe. ADAC Verlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-87003-352-5 , p. 82.
- ↑ Honkenya peploides at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ George Quendes: beach and the Wadden Sea. Animals and plants on the North and Baltic Seas - a biotope guide. BVL Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich Vienna Zurich, ISBN 3-405-15108-2
- ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
- ↑ Honckenya peploides at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
Web links
- Chickweed. In: FloraWeb.de.
- Distribution map for Germany. In: Floraweb .
- Profile of the Salzmiere of the University of Osnabrück Profile of the university. Osnabrück
- Profile at Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia. (engl.)
- Flora of North America. (engl.)
- Area map at "Den virtuella floran" (Swedish)
- Thomas Meyer: Data sheet with identification key and photos at Flora-de: Flora von Deutschland (old name of the website: Flowers in Swabia )
