Nymphaea lotus var. Thermalis

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Nymphaea lotus var. Thermalis
Systematics
Order : Water lilies (Nymphaeales)
Family : Water lily family (Nymphaeaceae)
Subfamily : Nymphaeoideae
Genre : Water lilies ( nymphaea )
Type : Tiger lotus ( Nymphaea lotus )
Variety : Nymphaea lotus var. Thermalis
Scientific name
Nymphaea lotus var. Thermalis
( DC. ) Tuzson

The Nymphaea lotus var. Thermalis or thermal water lily is a variety of the species of the tiger lotus ( Nymphaea lotus ).

description

The thermal water lily is a perennial, herbaceous aquatic plant with perennial creeping shoots ( rhizomes ) growing horizontally in the bottom of the water , from which side shoots formed as stolons emerge, at the end of which new plants emerge. The floating leaves reach a diameter of 20 to 50 centimeters. They are noticeably serrated at the edge and are usually somewhat wavy here. The large white flowers floating on the surface of the water only open at night until the early hours of the morning. They reach 15 to 25 centimeters in diameter. The four sepals are green with white veins, the 12 to 25 petals are white on top and purple on the underside. The variety is said to differ from the typical variety (var. Lotus ) in that the leaves are smooth and hairless on the underside.

The thermal water lily can be easily distinguished from the white water lily ( Nymphaea alba ), which is native to all of Europe : This has non-serrated leaves and its flowers close at night while they open during the day. The species is often confused , also in tourist brochures, with tropical water lilies, especially red-flowering Nymphaea pubescens , which are cultivated as an ornamental plant and introduced into the area .

Occurrence

The variety is indicated by only one place: the spring pool at the Pețea stream, a tributary of the Crișul Repede river in the village of Sânmartin near Oradea in Romania . The elongated pool only reaches a few hundred square meters with a maximum depth of 3.5 meters. It collects the water from several thermal springs in the area. Its water temperature reaches around 30 to 31 ° C and is almost constant over the course of the year. This occurrence is the only possibly autochthonous occurrence of Nymphaea lotus in Europe. In addition to the plant species, the fish Scardinius racovitzai and the water snail Melanopsis parreyssi are endemic to the small spring pool .

The status of an occurrence in the thermal lake of Hévíz near Lake Balaton in Hungary, from where the variety was said to have been introduced by humans, is controversial . The plants given here could, however, rather belong to Nymphaea pubescens .

Threat and protection

The thermal springs of Sânmartin are used by a number of local hotels with spa resorts, the required water is obtained by drilling in the vicinity of the springs, which thereby lose more and more water, and the lack of inflow of thermal water changes the water temperature of the remaining water . The endemic species of the area have therefore been considered extremely threatened since 2011, possibly already extinct in the wild. The spring pond is directly adjacent to various tourist centers, in a park-like environment and is therefore used intensively for recreational purposes. In addition, plants and animals were and are removed and numerous exotic species released or settled. Although tourism is the most important local economic sector and the thermal water lily is marketed as an identity-creating feature, the identification of the local population with it, and with nature in general, is not very high.

The sources form, as the only locality, the EUNIS habitat type Transylvanian hot-spring lotus beds (Code No. C1.24113), which is protected throughout Europe according to the Bern Convention and Annex I of the Habitats Directive of the European Union. For their protection, the Natura 2000 reserve Pârâul Pețea was established with an area of ​​four hectares (code no. ROSCI0098). Despite the protection status, the occurrence is still considered endangered. The withdrawal of water for bathing purposes has since been regulated to protect the springs with their flora and fauna, but probably not sufficient.

Research history and taxonomy

The occurrence of the thermal water lily was discovered in 1799 by the Hungarian botanist Pál Kitaibel ("Rivulum Pecze non procul Magno Varadino") after the thermal springs, known since 1221 (as Termae Varadienses), began to be used for bathing purposes from around 1721 and in 1760 the first permanent baths had been erected. After the form had first been described as a new species by Augustin-Pyrame de Candolle , it was downgraded to the variety of Nymphaea lotus by Janos Tuzson in 1907 . Tuzson suspected that the species could possibly have survived the deterioration of the ice age at this point (its tertiary occurrence in Europe is documented by fossil plant remains). In 1932, on the initiative of the botanist and politician Alexandru Borza , a natural monument, the first in Romania, was designated to protect it. However, the population has since declined more or less steadily.

The status of the deposit has been controversial for a long time. According to genetic data, its variability is low, a differentiation to occurrences of the species from the main African distribution area is not possible. An autochthonous occurrence since the Ice Age is sometimes doubted for geological reasons, for example because the location must have been flooded by the Pannonian Sea . Alternatively, there is speculation about an early introduction as early as the 18th century, for example by the Turks. The status of the Romanian population as a botanical variety would not be justified in this case.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ TG Tutin, DA Webb: Nymphaeaceae. In: Thomas Gaskell Tutin , NA Burges, JR Edmondson, AO Chater, VH Heywood, DM Moore, JR Akeroyd, DH Valentine, RR Mill, SM Walters, ME Newton, DA Webb (editors): Flora Europaea, Volume 1: Psilotaceae to Platanaceae. Cambridge University Press, 1993, ISBN 978-0521410076 , p. 247.
  2. ↑ Péter Poczai, Kinga Klára Mátyás, István Szabó, Ildikó Varga, Jaakko Hyvönen, István Cernák, Ahmad Mosapour Gorji, Kincső Decsi, János Taller (2011): Genetic Variability of Thermal Nymphaea (NymphaeaceaeSSR Populations Based on Implications: Implications) , Hybridization, and Conservation. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 29: 906-918. doi: 10.1007 / s11105-011-0302-9
  3. ↑ a b R. Linc, M. Staşac (2015): Protected areas of Bihor county (RO) between EU wishes and realities on the ground. The case study of the Peța brook nature reserve. Analele Universităţii din Oradea, Fascicula Protecţia Mediului 24: 181-194.
  4. ↑ DC Ilieș, R. Buhaș, A. Ilieș, C. Morar, G. Herman (2015): Nymphaea lotus var. Thermalis (Pârâul Pețea Nature Reserve), brand near extinction of the Băile Felix-Băile 1 May (Romania) spa tourism system. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites 15 (1): 107-117.
  5. ↑ EUNIS factsheet: Transylvanian hot-spring lotus beds
  6. ↑ Ana Veler: Nymphaea lotus up north, naturally . Water Gardeners International, WGI online Journal Volume 3, Number 4, November 2008.
  7. ↑ Ana Veler: Update on the Romanian population of Nymphaea lotus: A Result from nrITS sequencing . Water Gardeners International, WGI online Journal Volume 5, Number 2, May 2010.
  8. ↑ Thomas Borsch, Khidir W. Hilu, John H. Wiersema, Cornelia Löhne, Wilhelm Barthlott, Volker Wilde (2007): Phylogeny of Nymphaea (Nymphaeaceae): Evidence from Substitutions and Microstructural Changes in the Chloroplast trnT - trnF Region. International Journal of Plant Science 168 (5): 639-671. doi: 10.1086 / 513476
  9. ↑ Gavril Negrean (2011): Addenda to “Flora Romaniae” Volumes 1-12. Newly published plants, nomenclature, taxonomy, chorology and commentaries (Part 1). Kanitzia 18: 89-194.

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