Small wintergreen

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Small wintergreen
Little Wintergreen (Pyrola minor)

Little Wintergreen ( Pyrola minor )

Systematics
Asterids
Order : Heather-like (Ericales)
Family : Heather family (Ericaceae)
Subfamily : Monotropoideae
Genre : Wintergreen ( Pyrola )
Type : Small wintergreen
Scientific name
Pyrola minor
( L. )

The small wintergreen ( Pyrola minor ) is a plant species from the subfamily of the wintergreen and spruce asparagus plants ( Monotropoideae ) in the family of the heather plants (Ericaceae).

features

They are perennial herbaceous plants . The small wintergreen has round-oval, leathery-rough leaves that are arranged in rosettes, which also remain green in winter, which is what gave the wintergreen its name . Their stems are shorter than the length of the leaf blades . The 10 to 25 centimeter long stem ( stem axis) has a green or reddish tinge.

The white to pink, spherical flowers of the small wintergreen appear in Central Europe from June to July. This is to nectar-less bell shaped flowers, which in allseitswendigen upright grapes grow. The three to five millimeters long petals are not fused. The calyx lobes pressed onto the crown are triangular. The straight, not thickened stylus is in this kind shorter than the corolla. In Pyrola minor it often for self-pollination because the mealy pollen from the pores of the stamens ( anthers ) to the deeper scar trickles. This is slimy and mainly attracts flies and beetles .

The tiny seeds of the little wintergreen are in capsules . These have five compartments, which burst open at longitudinal gaps. The seeds have an inflated seed coat - they are balloon fliers . The seedling emerging from the seed has no cotyledons ; the germination is only possible with the help of root fungi (see below). As with other nutritionists, the seed weight is very low at 0.004 mg. In addition, vegetative propagation takes place via root runners.

The species has chromosome number 2n = 46.

Occurrence

Habit and single inflorescence
Fruit cluster

The small wintergreen is found on base-rich, humus soils, predominantly in the undergrowth of nutrient-poor deciduous forests and coniferous forests as well as in birch bogs or near-natural pine forests. It grows from the plains to the high mountains and is circumpolar . In northern Germany it benefited over long periods from the expansion of the pine monoculture in the 20th century.

In Central Europe , the small wintergreen is a Piceetalia-order character, but also occurs in societies of the sub-association Luzulo-Fagenion and the associations Quercion roboris or Nardion. In the Allgäu Alps, it rises in the Tyrolean part of the Muttekopf up to 2300 m above sea level.

Root fungus

The roots of Pyrola minor , like those of the other wintergreen plants, are densely covered with hyphae of fungi . These fungal hyphae also spin around the cortex cells of the plant, penetrate them and are digested there. This represents an intermediate form between endotrophic and ectotrophic mycorrhiza . The small wintergreen supplies itself with additional water, minerals and proteins and provides the fungus with carbohydrates .

literature

  • Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg (1994): Botanical-ecological excursion pocket book. 5th, revised and expanded edition. Quelle & Meyer (Heidelberg, Wiesbaden). ISBN 3-494-01229-6
  • Schmeil / Fitschen (1993): Flora of Germany and neighboring countries. 89th, revised and expanded edition. Quelle & Meyer (Heidelberg, Wiesbaden). ISBN 3-494-01210-5

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Stuttgart, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 2001. Page 727. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5
  2. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 2, IHW, Eching 2004, ISBN 3-930167-61-1 , pp. 291-292.

Web links

Commons : Small Wintergreen ( Pyrola minor )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files