Hop clover

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hop clover
Hop clover (Medicago lupulina)

Hop clover ( Medicago lupulina )

Systematics
Eurosiden I
Order : Fabales (Fabales)
Family : Legumes (Fabaceae)
Subfamily : Butterflies (Faboideae)
Genre : Snail clover ( Medicago )
Type : Hop clover
Scientific name
Medicago lupulina
L.

The hop clover ( Medicago lupulina ), also called hop alfalfa , Zetterklee or yellow clover , is a species of the snail clover ( Medicago ) genus . It is widespread in Eurasia and Africa . The hop clover is rarely cultivated as a fodder plant and used as a wild vegetable .

description

Chimera: The illustration combines features of the hop clover (fruits) with features of the field clover (Trifolium campestre), to which the shapes of the flowers and flower heads can be assigned.
Stem with deciduous leaf with stipules and inflorescence
Zygomorphic flower
Fruit cluster
Circular legume

Appearance and leaf

The hop clover grows as a wintering green, annual or biennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 10 to 50 centimeters. The prostrate to ascending stems are angular.

The alternate and spirally arranged leaves are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf blade is pinnate in three parts. The leaflets are obovate, finely serrated and often edged at the tip with a continuation of the midrib ( Medicago tooth). The stipules are pointed lanceolate.

Inflorescence, flower and fruit

Important information is missing from this article or section. Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

The flowering period extends from May to October. The relatively small, spherical, racemose inflorescences contain 10 to 50 flowers and are reminiscent of those of hops ; hence the common name hop clover. The hermaphroditic flowers are zygomorphic with a length of 2 to 5 millimeters with a double flower envelope .

The legume, which is brown-black when ripe, is almost kidney-shaped, has three to five branched longitudinal nerves and is twisted once (genus snail clover).

Chromosome number

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 16 or 32.

Similar species

The hops alfalfa ( Medicago lupulina ) is similar in habit to the thread clover ( Trifolium dubium ) and other yellow flowering species of the genus Trifolium such as the field clover ( Trifolium campestre ). With these Trifolium species, however, the dry corolla remains on the small fruit. With the hop clover, the crown is quickly lost after flowering and the snail-like twisted fruits can be seen well before they are fully ripe. While the calyx is hairy in the hop clover, it is bare in the thread clover.

ecology

The hop clover is a therophyte or a hemicryptophyte with a long spindle-shaped root and a pioneer plant . Vegetative propagation occurs through shoot rejuvenation by adventitious shoots, which can also be formed on the roots. It is rooted up to 50 centimeters deep.

From an ecological point of view, these are nectar-bearing butterfly flowers with an explosion mechanism, the stamens snap out of the boat when the insect visits them for the first time and press themselves against the insect's stomach.

The pollination is done by the honey bee and other small species of bees and by various Diptera ; after the insect visit the genital column protrudes from the little boat; Self-pollination is possible, but leads to less fruit set.

The spread of the fruits (solitary nuts ) takes place through the water ( rainworm ) and through humans.

Variability of the species

Medicago lupulina var. Glandulosa ( herbarium specimen , locality Franks, 1981)
This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Medicago lupulina is very variable depending on the location, fertilization , mowing and grazing . However, only a few of the many “varieties” and “varieties” described have a systematic value. In moist, fertilized soil, the leaves and flower stalks become significantly larger; in open, dry growth areas, the stems can become very long and tough, almost thorn-like.

Medicago lupulina var. Glandulosa Mertens et Koch should be mentioned as one of the varieties . This is characterized by a glandular hairiness of the fruits or all above-ground parts of the plant; often it is even more hairy and silky. In Germany, this variety occurs only in the warm lowlands, namely the Upper Rhine Valley, Neckar region and Franconia . Outside of Germany, it has also been observed in the Southern Alps.

Occurrence

The range of Medicago lupulina extends in the north to Scandinavia ; in the east to central and east Asia; in the south to the Himalayas and to North and East Africa . The hop clover occurs almost all over Europe.

Medicago lupulina occurs throughout Eurasia , especially in the central and southern regions. The hop clover is only absent in the Central European lowlands and in areas with lime-poor rock in smaller areas; otherwise it is very common in Central Europe . It is very common in Austria and can be found in all federal states. Due to seed contamination, botanically also referred to as speirochory , it is now widespread almost worldwide. It is therefore one of the so-called neophytes in individual regions . The hop clover has been found in southern Germany since the Bronze Age .

In Central Europe, the hop clover colonizes roadsides, dams, cracks in the earth, rains, dry greasy meadows, limestone, lean grassland ( semi-dry grassland ) and fields. It is sown occasionally for greening together with marked pioneer plants on raw soil. It rises locally in the Alps to altitudes of around 1800 meters. In the past it was occasionally grown as a protein-rich forage crop. The sowing for greening has certainly contributed to its further spread in Central Europe .

The hop clover thrives best in summer warm, moderately dry, base-rich, calcareous , not too nutrient-poor clay or loess soils .

According to Ellenberg , it is a half-light plant, a moderate heat pointer and an association character type of sub-oceanic semi-arid grassland (mesobromion). But it also occurs in societies of the order Arrhenatheretalia and the associations Caucalidion, Fumario-Euphorbion or Sisymbrion. In the Allgäu Alps, it climbs up to an altitude of 1500 meters in the Tyrolean part of the Middle High Alps near Steeg .

Taxonomy

Medicago lupulina was first published by Carl von Linné . The specific epithet lupulina means hop-like and comes from the hops ( Humulus lupulus ). The translation as wolf-like is incorrect.

use

The hop clover is usually cultivated as a forage plant as a mixture of clover and grass.

literature

  • Manfred A. Fischer, Karl Oswald, Wolfgang Adler: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 3rd, improved edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2008, ISBN 978-3-85474-187-9 .
  • Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 .
  • Siegmund Seybold (Ed.): Schmeil-Fitschen. Interactive flora of Germany. Seeing - determining - knowing. The key to the flora . CD-ROM, version 2.0. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2004, ISBN 3-494-01368-3 .
  • Heinz Ellenberg : Vegetation of Central Europe with the Alps in an ecological, dynamic and historical perspective (=  UTB for science. Large series . Volume 8104 ). 5th, heavily changed and improved edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1996, ISBN 3-8252-8104-3 .
  • Margot Spohn, Marianne Golte-Bechtle: What is blooming there? The encyclopedia: over 1000 flowering plants from Central Europe. Kosmos, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-440-10326-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Medicago lupulina L., Hop-alfalfa. In: FloraWeb.de.
  2. ↑ a b c Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , pp.  588 .
  3. ^ Manfred A. Fischer, Karl Oswald, Wolfgang Adler: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 3rd, improved edition. Province of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2008, ISBN 978-3-85474-187-9 , p. 573 .
  4. ^ Oskar Sebald, Siegmund Seybold, Georg Philippi (ed.): The fern and flowering plants of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 3: Special part (Spermatophyta, subclass Rosidae): Droseraceae to Fabaceae. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-8001-3314-8 .
  5. ↑ a b c Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The flowering plants of Central Europe . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : Yew family to butterfly family . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08048-X .
  6. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 2, IHW-Verlag, Eching near Munich, 2004 ISBN 3-930167-61-1 , p. 125.
  7. ^ Gustav Hegi : Illustrated flora of Central Europe. Volume IV, 3, 1st edition. Munich 1964, p. 1255.

Web links

Commons : Hop Clover ( Medicago lupulina )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files