Copper rock pear
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Copper rock pear ( Amelanchier lamarckii ) |
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| Amelanchier lamarckii | ||||||||||||
| FG Schroed. |
The copper rock pear ( Amelanchier lamarckii ), also known as the currant tree in northern Germany , is a deciduous shrub from eastern North America. It is often used as an ornamental wood because of its white flowers, the copper-red tint of the young leaves and the splendid autumn color. Its fruits are non-toxic and tasty.
description
The copper rock pear is usually two to five meters high, but under favorable conditions can grow into a multi-stemmed, 10-meter-high tree with a flattened crown. The stalked, obovate leaves , regularly and closely serrated on the edge, unfold during the flowering period at the end of April. They are initially bronze to copper-colored and have thick, silvery hairs, especially on the underside. In the bud position, the halves of the spreader are folded together (conduplicate). The fully developed leaves are 4 to 8 cm long and 2 to 4 cm wide, dull green on top and light blue-green on the underside. In autumn they turn bright yellow to orange-red.
The 2 to 3 cm large, odorless flowers are in obliquely upright or slightly overhanging 6 to 12-flowered clusters . They have five white, narrow petals , 20 stamens and a five-part at the tip pen . The long-stalked, spherical fruits crowned by the calyx , about 1 cm in size, are initially light purple. When ripe, which occurs between the end of June and mid-July depending on the altitude, they turn blue-black and taste pleasantly sweet.
The fruits are eaten whole by birds, e.g. B. eaten by thrushes, starlings or pigeons, so that the seeds are ornithochoric spread.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 68.
Distribution and location requirements
The area of origin of the copper rock pear is in eastern North America, where today no wild plants are known that correspond in their morphological characteristics to the European populations. It occurs as a neophyte in Atlantic influenced Western Europe . The species may have originated through hybridization with the participation of Amelanchier laevis . Except in north-west Germany, it is fully naturalized in southern England, northern Belgium and the Netherlands in particular and must be classified as an agriophyte .
The copper rock pear is found feral in Central Europe, especially on the edges of acidic oak forests. It tolerates frost and waterlogging as well as temporary drought.
Botanical history and uses
The first description of the species was provided by the botanist Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart in 1782 under the name Pyrus botryapium and thus classified it in the pear genus. It was only with the establishment of the Amelanchier genus by the German scholar Friedrich Kasimir Medikus in 1789 that the copper rock pear was separated from the pears, but also from medlars and hawthorns, to which they had also been added at times. At the end of the 18th century it was already in culture in many botanical gardens and parks. In the 19th century, farmers planted it as a fruit tree in several Dutch provinces and in parts of Lower Saxony and Westphalia. Since the climatic conditions in north-western Europe appealed to her, she went wild in many places. However, it was mistaken for the Amelanchier canadensis , also from North America, and was mostly traded under this name until the 1970s. The species received its now accepted scientific name Amelanchier lamarckii in 1968 by the German botanist Fred-Günter Schroeder . The specific epithet honors the French botanist Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck , who described the plant under the name Crataegus racemosa in 1783 .
Since the 1960s, the copper rock pear has been widely used for planting trees in city centers and along road embankments. Cultivars that have been modified by breeding are increasingly being used, which are characterized by larger fruits ( cultivar 'Ballerina') or pink flowers (cultivar 'Rubescens').
literature
- Andreas Roloff , Andreas Bärtels: Flora of the woods . 2nd Edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2006, ISBN 3-8001-4832-3 .
- Fred-Günter Schroeder: Amelanchier . In: Hildemar Scholz (Hrsg.): Illustrated flora of Central Europe . Founded by Gustav Hegi. 2nd completely revised and expanded edition. Volume IV Part 2B: Spermatophyta: Angiospermae: Dicotyledones 2 (3) (Rosaceae, 2nd part) . Blackwell, Berlin / Vienna a. a. 1995, ISBN 3-8263-2533-8 , pp. 385-404 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 510.
- ^ Wilhelm Lohmeyer, Herbert Sukopp: Agriophytes in the vegetation of Central Europe. In: Series of publications for vegetation science. Volume 25, Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster-Hiltrup 1992, ISBN 3-7843-2073-2 .
Web links
- Amelanchier lamarckii. In: FloraWeb.de.
- Amelanchier lamarckii FG Schroed. In: Info Flora , the national data and information center for Swiss flora . Retrieved November 5, 2015.
- Thomas Meyer: Data sheet with identification key and photos at Flora-de: Flora von Deutschland (old name of the website: Flowers in Swabia )
- Type and amount of the most important ingredients . Weihenstephan University of Applied Sciences