Bärwurz (plant)

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Bärwurz
Bearwort (Meum athamanticum)

Bearwort ( Meum athamanticum )

Systematics
Euasterids II
Order : Umbelliferae (Apiales)
Family : Umbelliferae (Apiaceae)
Subfamily : Apioideae
Genre : Meum
Type : Bärwurz
Scientific name of the  genus
Meum
Mill.
Scientific name of the  species
Meum athamanticum
Jacq.

The bearwort ( Meum athamanticum ) is the only species of the monotypical genus Meum within the umbelliferae family (Apiaceae).

description

illustration
Fruit cluster
Fruits and seeds

Bärwurz has a strong smell, even when it is dried (e.g. in the herbarium ). Overall, it is similar to that of fennel . In French, Meum athamanticum is called Fenouil de montagne or Fenouil des Alpes (translated roughly: "Mountain or Alpine fennel").

Vegetative characteristics

The Bärwurz is a perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of growth of 15 to 60 centimeters. Its rhizome is rolled, long and thick and has a tuft of fibers on top. It has roots up to 1 meter deep. It forms clumps. The stems are upright to ascending, glabrous, angularly grooved and only have one or two leaves in the upper area.

The leaves are divided into a long petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf blade is elongated or ovate in outline and two to multiple pinnate. The last-order sections are hair-thin, 4 to 6 millimeters long and tufted almost lively.

Generative characteristics

The flowering period extends from May to June. Many flowers stand together in a double-headed inflorescence . The umbels are 6- to 15-rayed; without or with one to eight bracts. Its rays are smooth and almost bare, but unevenly elongated at the fruiting time. The little nipples are profuse; mostly only the marginal flowers and the central flower are hermaphroditic, the rest are male. There are three to eight husk leaves.

The flowers are five-fold. The five petals are white or yellowish-white. There is only one circle with five stamens .

The double achane is nut brown, 6 to 10 millimeters long and 3 to 5 millimeters wide and hexagonal.

Chromosome set

The basic chromosome number is x = 11; there is diploidy with a chromosome number of 2n = 22.

Occurrence

The distribution area of Meum athamanticum is mainly in Central and Western Europe and extends east to Bulgaria and south to Calabria and Morocco . It includes the countries: Morocco, Spain, France, Andorra, Great Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine. Meum athamanticum is a neophyte in Norway .

Meum athamanticum thrives mainly on pasture lawns, scree slopes and stony locations under crooked wood . The Bärwurz occurs in the montane to subalpine altitude range . In Central Europe it is a type of character of the order Nardetalia, especially of the Violion association, but also occurs in lean societies of the Polygono-Trisetion association.

use

Barwort is grown by specialized farmers to protect the local flora . They cultivate Bärwurz under high environmental standards and requirements for the distilleries in the Bavarian Forest as well as for other purposes such as herbal medicine or herbal liqueurs .

Bearwort in the kitchen

Barwort is widely used as a herb in the Scottish Highlands. The fine dill-like foliage and the subterranean plant parts have a strong, hearty taste that z. B. goes well with chives in herbal quarks. In some areas, Bärwurz is used to make herbal cheese, in the Erzgebirge it is used to make “Köppernickel soup”.

In the southern Black Forest, a herbal salt with sea salt and dried bearwort is produced. For this purpose, the herb is collected before flowering, dried in the shade and then made small and mixed with salt - ratio as desired.

The “Bärwurz” schnapps , which is known in Bavaria , especially in the Bavarian Forest and is sold in cylindrical, brown stoneware bottles, is made either from the Bärwurz plant or from the motherwort ( Ligusticum mutellina ).

Bearwort in herbal medicine

According to Tabernaemontanus , the healing powers of bearwort are numerous:

"Drunk Beerwurtzwasser / opens the blockage of the liver / the kidneys / urination / and the bladders / drives away the addiction / dropsy / melts the bowels and the mother / leads out the stone / drives the / drives away the urinary winds / and the dripping urinate. "

- New Kreuterbuch 1588

"It is also comforting that the cattle almost like jsset dz kraut from the Beerwurtz / and the cows get a lot of milk from it / excellent cheese is made from it in the Black Forest and elsewhere."

In modern herbal medicine , Bärwurz is used in Hildegard medicine . The so-called bear wort pear honey contains dried and chopped bear wort as its main ingredient, along with other herbs.

photos

literature

  • Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald, Raimund Fischer: Excursion flora of Austria . Ed .: Manfred A. Fischer. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart / Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-8001-3461-6 .
  • Albert Thellt : Umbelliferae. In: Gustav Hegi : Illustrated flora of Central Europe. Volume V.2, 1st edition. Munich 1926, pp. 926-1537. (Description)

Individual evidence

  1. 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.  716 .
  2. a b R. Hand (2011): Apiaceae. : Data sheet Meum - In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity .
  3. http://www.derkleinegarten.de/800_lexikon/807_heilpflanze/148_meum_athamanticum_baerwurz_heilpflanze_tee.htm

Web links

Commons : Bärwurz ( Meum athamanticum )  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files