Hussar buttons
Hussar buttons | ||||||||||||
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![]() Hussar button ( Sanvitalia procumbens ) |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Sanvitalia | ||||||||||||
Lam. |
The sanvitalia ( Sanvitalia ) are a genus of the family of Compositae (Asteraceae). The genus includes seven plant species . All species have their original range in Mexico and the southwest of the USA .
description
They are annual and perennial herbaceous plants ; however, the perennial species are also usually very short-lived. They are branched and usually prostrate. Characteristic for this genus are the egg-shaped leaves , which are seated or provided with petioles alternately on the branches. The leaf margins are whole, sometimes lobed.
They have small, radially symmetrical , mostly stalked baskets , the shell is hemispherical or broadly bell-shaped. The bracts are one to three rows, are almost the same shape and can be dry or at least herbaceous at the tip, occasionally only the outermost leaves are like leaves. The basket bottom is conical. The chaff leaves are folded lengthways in the middle, translucent, supporting or enclosing the disc florets. The ray-florets stand one to two rows, are persistent, stamp bearing and fertile, they lack a pronounced corolla tube, the tongue is yellow in color. The tubular flowers are bisexual, usually purple, regular and tubular in shape, the flower border is slightly widened and provided with five teeth. The base of the anthers is arrow-shaped, an appendix is formed at the top. The stylus branches are split or have short appendages at the tips.
The achenes of the ray-flowers are thick, triangular and hairless. The three edges merge into three awns. The achenes of tubular flowers are usually two-shaped: the outer ones are triangular, occasionally also square, the inner ones are compressed and often also winged, the wings often merge into short awns.
distribution
Home of the seven species of the genus is Mexico and the southwest of the USA , only one species - the hussar button ( Sanvitalia procumbens ) - is also distributed as far as Guatemala and Costa Rica.
use
In Central Europe, the hussar buttons are one of the popular summer flowers. They are grown from seeds as an annual and then planted in the garden in a sunny spot. The soil should be rich in humus and well drained. The hussar button , which is also occasionally sold as a miniature sunflower, is planted particularly frequently .
species
Here is a selection of the types:
- Sanvitalia abertii A. Gray : Homeland is California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico.
- Sanvitalia angustifolia Engelm. ex A. Gray : The home is Mexico.
- Sanvitalia ocymoides DC. : The home is Mexico and Texas.
- Sanvitalia procumbens Lam. : The home is Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala.
literature
- Dorothy L. Nash: Heliantheae. In: Dorothy L. Nash, Louis O. Williams (Eds.): Flora of Guatemala. Compositae. In: Fieldiana. Botany, Volume 24, Part XII, 1976, pp. 302-303, digitized .
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d Asteraceae in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved April 30, 2014.