Tagetes minuta
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Tagetes minuta is a species of the genus Tagetes in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). She comes from South America. It is a popular culinary herb in Peruand an integral part of Peruvian cuisine and is called Huacatay there and Wakataya in Bolivia.
description
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Vegetative characteristics
Tagetes minuta grows as an annual, strongly fragrant and upright herbaceous plant and reaches heights of up to 1–2 meters.
It has stalked, mostly opposite or alternate in the upper part, cut, bare leaves with 9–17 opposite or alternate lobes that appear as if pinnate. The central vein is slightly winged with sometimes small ruler teeth. The narrow-eilanzettlichen to -lanzettlichen, pointed lobes are roughly sawn and / or notched at the edge. They have small, blackish glands underneath. The narrow lobes are up to about 5-11 centimeters long and up to 1 centimeter wide. The obovate leaves are up to 20-30 centimeters long.
Generative characteristics
The very small and fragrant, upright flowers are white-yellow. They are too many in axillary or terminal, dense and umbrella-like partial inflorescences in compound inflorescences. The outside glandular, slightly hairy, 10-15 millimeter long, green outer calyx is narrow-tubular fused with small tips. On the small flower head there are 2–4 white ray - flowers and 4–7 yellow-greenish tubular flowers . The small tongues are up to 2.5-3.5 millimeters long.
The narrow-conical, densely hairy fruits, the achenes are dark brown and without pappus 5-6 millimeters long. They have a small Pappus with small pointed scales and usually two something, fine sawn longer, unequal length awns .
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 48.
Occurrence
Tagetes minuta is native to Argentina , Brazil , Chile , Paraguay , Uruguay , Bolivia and Ecuador . The species is a neophyte in Spain, Italy, Slovenia , on the Balkan Peninsula, in Africa, Madagascar , on the Arabian Peninsula, in Cyprus , in Turkey, in Syria, in Lebanon , in the Caucasus region, in India, Nepal , Bhutan , Japan, Taiwan , Thailand , Australia, New Zealand , the United States, Mexico, and Hawaii .
cultivation
Tagetes minuta does best in sunny locations with sandy and well-drained soils. Under favorable conditions, Tagetes minuta can reproduce spontaneously and spread as a weed . The roots secrete a secretion that prevents the growth of nematodes as well as certain other plants.
use
The Huacatay is used to marinate meat dishes and to prepare cheese sauces, such as the Ocopa from the Arequipa region in southern Peru .
Together with chincho ( Tagetes elliptica ), Huacatay is a spice used in the pachamanca , the traditional feast of the Andean people, in which meat, potatoes and other vegetables are cooked in a hole in the ground heated with hot stones and covered with earth and blankets.
For the preparation of the Huacatay sauce, only the fresh, hand-plucked individual leaves are used. The leaves can be prepared in a blender with oil, chilli and other spices to make a pesto mixture or with cream cheese, milk and, if necessary, peanuts. Dry leaves almost completely lose their characteristic aroma.
A branch is added to the pot with meat dishes and removed after cooking. Huacatay is very productive and a branch with 6–8 leaves is enough for 6 to 8 servings of sauce or meat.
Because of its strong scent, the effects of the plant as an insect repellent are currently being studied.
literature
- Guardia, Sara Beatriz: Una Fiesta del Sabor. El Perú y sus comidas. Edición Bonus, Lima 2002, ISBN 9972-9603-0-7 .
Web links
- Tagetes minuta at Useful Tropical Plants.
- Tagetes minuta at CABI Invasive Species Compendium.
- Tagetes minuta in the Flora of China.
Individual evidence
- ^ Tagetes minuta at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ^ A b Tagetes in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ↑ Tagetes minuta at Plants For A Future
- ^ Una Fiesta del Sabor. P. 268.
- ^ Una Fiesta del Sabor. P. 314.