Lotus plum

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lotus plum
Lotus plum (Diospyros lotus)

Lotus plum ( Diospyros lotus )

Systematics
Asterids
Order : Heather-like (Ericales)
Family : Ebony Family (Ebenaceae)
Subfamily : Ebenoideae
Genre : Ebony trees ( Diospyros )
Type : Lotus plum
Scientific name
Diospyros lotus
L.

The lotus plum ( Diospyros lotus ) is a species of ebony trees ( Diospyros ) within the ebony family (Ebenaceae). It is native to east and west China and has been naturalized in the Mediterranean region to Persia since ancient times.

description

bark
Female flowers
Illustration from Arboretum et fruticetum britannicum, or - The trees and shrubs of Britain, native and foreign, hardy and half-hardy, pictorially and botanically delineated, and scientifically and popularly described
Detail of a leaf blade with the leaf veins
Branch with male flowers
fruit

Vegetative characteristics

The lotus plum is a deciduous tree , which in its original area of ​​distribution can reach heights of growth of up to 30 meters and trunk diameters of 1.3 meters. The bark is gray-black to gray-brown and slightly rough, finely furrowed to slightly cracked or finely to coarsely scaled.

The alternate, simple leaves are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf stalks have a length of 0.7 to 2.5 centimeters. With a length of 5 to 14 centimeters and a width of 2.5 to 7 centimeters, the simple leaf blade is egg-shaped, -lanceolate to obovate, -eilanceolate, with a rounded to blunt or pointed blade base and a pointed to pointed upper end. There are seven to ten lateral nerves on each side of the main nerve, and the network nerves are also clearly visible. The leaves are more or less hairy on the underside and sometimes on the upper side.

Generative characteristics

Diospyros lotus is dioeciously segregated ( diocesan ). The unisexual flowers are radial symmetry with a double flower envelope .

The somewhat smaller, male flowers are on a stalk up to 6 millimeters long, individually or in twos or threes together in a zymous inflorescence . They usually have four or rarely five, small calyx lobes . Their usually four to five reddish to pale yellow petals are fused into an approximately 4 millimeter long, urn-shaped crown with recessed tips. The 16 stamens have very short stamens and 3 millimeter long anthers. A reduced pestle is available.

The single female flowers are almost sessile. The four to five long-lasting, large calyx tips are also easily recognizable on the ripe fruit. Its four or rarely five pale green, light yellow to reddish petals are fused into an urn-shaped, approximately 6 millimeter large corolla with recessed tips. There are eight staminodes . The above constant, achtkammerige ovary is up to its upper end is bare. There are four styluses with lobed scars .

The initially yellow to orange and when ripe bluish-black, multi-seeded, bare berries , with a permanent calyx and sometimes remains of the style, are almost spherical to ellipsoidal with a diameter of 1 to 2.4 centimeters. They are white-bluish “frosted” and taste sweet when fully ripe. The approximately 4-9 dark brown, slightly textured, crescent-shaped seeds are flattened and up to about 8-13 millimeters long and about 5-9 millimeters wide.

The flowering period in China extends from May to June and the fruits ripen in October and November. In northern Turkey, trees are cultivated for their edible fruits.

Systematics and distribution

The first publication of Diospyros lotus was in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum 2, pp. 1057-1058.

Some authors differentiate between two varieties :

  • Diospyros lotus var. Lotus : Trees with heights of up to 30 meters, bare leaves or only hairy undersides of the leaves. It grows in thickets on embankments and in ravines at altitudes of 500 to 2500 meters.
  • Diospyros lotus var. Mollissima : Trees with heights of up to 13 meters, densely shaggy hairy branches and hairy leaves. It grows at altitudes of 1000 to 2500 meters in the provinces of Gansu , Shaanxi and Sichuan .

history

Pliny named different types of plants with the name lotus: three tree-like, two herbaceous and one stem-like lotus. The lotus tree could mean either the lotus plum, the hackberry tree ( Celtis australis L. ) or the lotus breastberry ( Ziziphus lotus ( L. ) Lam. ), Because all three species occur in Italy. In a way, Pliny noticed that the wood was black and very sought after for making flutes. That speaks for the lotus plum, whose wood is dark as ebony .

Various names have been known for Diospyros lotus since the 17th century , such as B. lotus tree , lotus boom , lotus arbor

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Maba JR Forster & G. Forster: Diospyros. : Diospyros lotus , p. 224 - online with the same text as the printed work , In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven (Ed.): Flora of China. Volume 15: Myrsinaceae through Loganiaceae , Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis, 1996, ISBN 0-915279-37-1 .
  2. ↑ O. Grygorieva, S. Klymenko u. a .: Morphometrical analysis of diospyros lotus population in the Mlyňany Arboretum, Slovakia. In: Acta horticulturae. 833 (833): 2009, pp. 145-150, doi: 10.17660 / ActaHortic.2009.833.23 , online at researchgate.net.
  3. ↑ Robert H. Glew, Faik A. Ayaz, M. Millson, HS Huang, LT Chuang: Changes in sugars, acids and fatty acids in naturally parthenocarpic date plum persimmon (Diospyros lotus L.) fruit during maturation and ripening . In: European Food Research and Technology . tape 221 , no. 1-2 , July 2005, ISSN  1438-2377 , pp. 113–118 , doi : 10.1007 / s00217-005-1201-9 ( springer.com [accessed October 2, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Pliny XIII, 72 and XVI, 53
  5. ↑ A. Munting : Naauwkeeurige beschrijving der aardgewassen. 1696.

Web links

Commons : Lotus Plum ( Diospyros lotus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files