Lying fattening herb

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Lying fattening herb
Procumbens (Sagina procumbens)

Procumbens ( Sagina procumbens )

Systematics
Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family : Carnation family (Caryophyllaceae)
Subfamily : Alsinoideae
Tribe : Alsineae
Genre : Fattening Herbs ( Sagina )
Type : Lying fattening herb
Scientific name
Sagina procumbens
L.

The Procumbent Pearlwort ( Sagina procumbens ), also Reclining gag called, is a plant from the family of the Pink family (Caryophyllaceae). The very small plant looks more like a moss than a flowering plant to laypeople. It forms lawn-like cushions and is relatively insensitive to mechanical stress. It can therefore occur, for example, in cracks in the pavement as far as inner cities.

description

Sagina procumbens , leaf rosettes of young plants
overall view
The linear to awl foliage leaves have a short spike tip.
Inflorescence / fruit cluster: the flower stalks are bent downwards after flowering.
Bottom view of a flower: the sepals are blunt in front and have a narrow skin edge.

Vegetative characteristics

The lower fattening herb is a very inconspicuous, evergreen, perennial , herbaceous plant . It grows prostrate to ascending, forms a taproot and reaches heights of between 2 and 5 cm. In suitable places it forms low, grassy stands.

Young plants initially form a basic rosette of leaves from which the branched, leafy and flower-bearing shoots soon grow. The prostrate, hairless stems that rise at the end can be up to 20 cm long. The opposite stem leaves are linear, 5 to 15 mm long and 1 to 2 mm wide. They have a short spiked tip and are sometimes slightly fleshy.

Flowers and fruits

The flowers are usually four-fold, but flowers with five sepals and petals can also occur on the same plant . The flower diameter including the sepals is about 5 mm. Two or more flowers per stem sit on long flower stalks that arise from the leaf axils. The leaf stalks bend down after flowering, but straighten up again before the fruit ripens.
The white petals are always smaller than the sepals and fall off early or are often absent. The sepals are up to 2.5 mm long and remain until the fruit is ripe. They are broadly elliptical to rounded, have a membranous white border and are rounded at the front. The flower usually has four, in exceptional cases up to eight stamens. The flowering period extends from May to September. The egg-shaped capsule fruit protrudes slightly over the sepals. It opens with four or five blunt valves. The dull brown triangular seeds are approx. 0.3 mm long.

The number of chromosomes is n = 11

Occurrence

The lower fattening herb originally comes from Europe , western Asia and the temperate zones of North Africa , where it is usually only found at altitudes of around 700  m . It has now been carried off to large parts of the world and is found in North America , Central America , South America , Asia and even in Antarctica .

In the Allgäu Alps, it even rises up to 1710 m above sea level at the mountain station of the Hochgratbahn in Bavaria.

Frequent sites are fields (especially on compacted soils), banks, paths and pavement joints. It prefers lime-poor, sandy loam soils and is a pointer plant for soils that are humid and rich in nitrogen . Since it can withstand mechanical stresses well, it can be found in step societies . Together with the silver moss ( Bryum argenteum ) it is a character species of the fattening herb step society ( Bryo-Saginetum procumbentis / Polygono-Poetea). This is the typical plant community of paved squares and streets in cities. Slightly saline soils with a chloride content below 0.3% can also be tolerated by the lower fattening herb. It usually occurs in groups.

ecology

The lower fattening herb is a creeping, biennial or a few years persistent, herbaceous, year-round green Chamaephyte .

The flowers are "nectar-bearing disc flowers"; and although they are very small, they produce nectar through glands at the base of the stamens , so that insect pollination takes place primarily through bees and small flies . However, the hermaphrodite flowers can also pollinate themselves. In bad weather the flowers remain closed, i. H. kleistogamous . The flowering period extends from May to September.

The fruit stalk is hooked and curved downwards after flowering, but is upright again when it is ripe. The capsule fruits open through 4 or 5 flaps. The very small seeds are serrated by regular rows of papillae; they spread as water-laden by treads and as rainworms . Fruit ripening is from June to September.

The vegetative reproduction occurs through runners .

Systematics

The lower fattening herb has the valid botanical name Sagina procumbens L. , the following varieties are listed:

  • Coastal fattening herb ( Sagina procumbens var. Litoralis Rchb. ) Also known as salt fattening herb. The form occurs on salty soils and its leaves are clearly thick-fleshed.
  • Alpine prostrate fattening herb ( Sagina procumbens var. Bryoides (Froel.) Hausm. ) With the synonyms Sagina bryoides Froel. and Sagina procumbens subsp. bryoides (Froel.) Dostál . In this subspecies, the leaf margin is ciliate and the flower stalks, calyx and stem are covered with glandular hairs.
  • Common prostrate fattening herb ( Sagina procumbens var. Procumbens ). This is the most common form in Europe.

swell

The article is mainly based on the following documents:

  • Eckehart J. Jäger, Klaus Werner (Ed.): Excursion flora from Germany . Founded by Werner Rothmaler. 10th edited edition. tape 4 : Vascular Plants: Critical Volume . Elsevier, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Munich / Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-8274-1496-2 .
  • Franz Fukarek , Heinz executioner : Flora of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Fern and flowering plants . Weissdorn, Jena 2006, ISBN 3-936055-07-6 .
  • Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait. 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 .

further reading

  • Henning Haeupler, Thomas Muer: picture atlas of the fern and flowering plants of Germany . Ed .: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (=  The fern and flowering plants of Germany . Volume 2 ). Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3364-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. Oskar Sebald: Guide through nature. Wild plants of Central Europe . ADAC Verlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-87003-352-5 , p. 81 .
  2. G. Tischler: The chromosome numbers of the vascular plants of Central Europe. Junk, S-Gravenhage 1950, ISBN 90-6193-625-X .
  3. Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings . Volume 1, IHW-Verlag, Eching near Munich, 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 503.

Web links

Commons : Decumbent Mastwort ( Sagina procumbens )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files