Head gorse

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Head gorse
Head gorse (Chamaecytisus supinus)

Head gorse ( Chamaecytisus supinus )

Systematics
Eurosiden I
Order : Fabales (Fabales)
Family : Legumes (Fabaceae)
Subfamily : Butterflies (Faboideae)
Genre : Dwarf gorse ( Chamaecytisus )
Type : Head gorse
Scientific name
Chamaecytisus supinus
( L. ) Link

The head dwarf gorse or head goat clover ( Chamaecytisus supinus ) is a species of the genus dwarf gorse ( Chamaecytisus ) in the subfamily butterfly family (Faboideae). This dwarf shrub blooms in two phases (spring and summer) and is poisonous due to its alkaloids content .

description

Illustration from storm
Stems and leaves are protruding shaggy hairs
Butterfly flower: the calyx is hairy, the flag glabrous
From the second year on, the branches bald
Stalked, hairy leaf

Vegetative characteristics

The head dwarf gorse is a thornless dwarf shrub that usually reaches heights of 20 to 60, rarely up to a maximum of 120 centimeters. The ascending or prostrate stems are hairy in the first year and bald in the second year. When drying, the stems turn black.

The alternate leaves are arranged in a petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf blade is triply pinnate. The leaflets are (10 to) 15 to 35 (to 50) millimeters long and mostly 7 to 15 millimeters wide. The leaf shape is obovate to elliptical, with the leaf base being wedge-shaped. The leaflets are shaggy and hairy on both sides, whereby the upper side can be bald.

The side buds are 2 to 3 millimeters long and densely hairy. They are not covered by the leaf base . The bracts and bracts of the buds are evergreen.

Inflorescence and flower

There are two blooming phases : the spring blooms appear in April and May, the summer blooms in July and August. The spring blossoms stand individually up to three on lateral short shoots that arise in the leaf axils of the previous year's branches. The summer flowers stand in pairs to six (up to tenth) in cape, terminal racemose inflorescences on this year's long shoots . The flower stalks are short and hairy shaggy.

The hermaphrodite flowers are zygomorphic and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The calyx is 12 to 14 millimeters long and protruding pubescent. The lower lip of the calyx is longer than it is wide; the calyx teeth are pointed and bent back. The flower crowns have the typical structure of a butterfly flower . The crown is yellow and 17 to 21 millimeters long in the spring flowers and 20 to 25 millimeters long in the summer flowers. The flag often has a red-brown spot and is usually bare, or only ciliate in the middle. The wings and shuttle are bare and significantly shorter than the flag.

Fruit and seeds

The legume , which turns black when ripe, is 20 to 30 millimeters long and 5 to 6 millimeters wide and protruding with shaggy hairs. The seeds are 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters long, flat and shiny red-yellow to brown in color.

Chromosome set

The basic chromosome number is x = 12; There are tetra- and octoploidies with chromosome numbers of 2n = 48 or 96.

Cytisine is the main alkaloid of the seeds

ingredients

All parts of the plant, especially the seeds, are poisonous due to their quinolizidine alkaloids . In the herbaceous parts of the plant, the proportion is 0.3 to 0.5 percent by weight, of which 57 to 63% is accounted for by lupanine , 0 to 25% for sparteine and 0 to 16% for anagyrin . The main alkaloid of the seeds is cytisine .

ecology

The head dwarf gorse is a scleromorphic nanophanerophyte or woody Chamaephyte .

It is pollinated by bumblebees . As the fruit ripens, the pods dry out, jump up and scatter the seeds. These are then spread by ants.

The caterpillars of the Regensburg yellow fling ( Colias myrmidone ) feed exclusively on the head dwarf gorse and the related Regensburg dwarf gorse .

Occurrence

Chamaecytisus supinus is common in central and southern Europe. The distribution area extends from France over the Danube region, the northern Balkan countries to the Black Sea. This spread is called Pontic . It is the most common dwarf gorse species.

In Germany, the head dwarf gorse is only native to Bavaria (Danube valley), in Brandenburg (Oder and Haveltal) and Thuringia (Creuzburg, Mühlhausen) it has been introduced ( neophyte ), also in the Mannheim area. In Austria it is absent in Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The head dwarf gorse is common in the Pannonian region , otherwise rare.

The head dwarf gorse grows in warm, dry forests ( pine and oak forests), in heaths, borders and semi-arid grasslands. It grows on dry, loamy and rocky slopes and embankments and avoids limestone soils . It only occurs up to the (sub) montane altitude . In the Bavarian Forest it rises to altitudes of 630 meters, in Lower Austria up to 950 meters. It is mainly found in the societies of the Cytiso supini-Callunetum and Cytiso nigricantis-Pinetum, but also occurs in societies of the Geranion sanguinei or the Genisto-Quercenion sub-group.

Taxonomy

It was first published in 1753 under the name ( Basionym ) Cytisus supinus by Carl von Linné . The new combination to Chamaecytisus supinus (L.) Link was published in 1831 by Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link in Handbook for the Recognition of the Most Usable and Most Frequent Plants , 2, p. 155. The specific epithet supinus means "curved backwards".

swell

literature

  • Manfred A. Fischer, Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2005, ISBN 3-85474-140-5 .
  • Rudolf Schubert , Klaus Werner, Hermann Meusel (eds.): Excursion flora for the areas of the GDR and the FRG . Founded by Werner Rothmaler. 13th edition. tape 2 : vascular plants . People and knowledge, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-06-012539-2 .
  • Siegmund Seybold (Ed.): Schmeil-Fitschen interactive . CD-ROM, version 1.1. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2002, ISBN 3-494-01327-6 .
  • Markus Bolliger, Matthias Erben, Jürke Grau, Günther R. Heubl: Shrub trees (= Steinbach's natural guide ). Mosaik, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-570-01211-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Chamaecytisus supinus (L.) Link, head dwarf gorse. In: FloraWeb.de.
  2. ↑ Head dwarf gorse . In: BiolFlor, the database of biological-ecological characteristics of the flora of Germany.
  3. ^ Siegmund Seybold (Ed.): Schmeil-Fitschen interactive . CD-ROM, version 1.1. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2002, ISBN 3-494-01327-6 .
  4. ^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas. 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 581.
  5. ↑ Chamaecytisus supinus at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed November 12, 2015.

Web links

Commons : Little Gorse ( Chamaecytisus supinus )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files