Lucky clover
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Lucky clover ( Oxalis tetraphylla ) |
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| Oxalis tetraphylla | ||||||||||||
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Leaf clover ( Oxalis tetraphylla , too) four-bladed sorrel called, is a species of the genus sorrel ( Oxalis ) in the family Oxalidaceae (Oxalidaceae). There are a number of synonyms for the species, especially the name Oxalis deppei Lodd. is still in regular use. It is widely used as an ornamental plant.
description
The lucky clover is a perennial , herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 15 to 40 centimeters. The stem axis grows completely underground and forms stolons . Flowering time is from June to October. The number of chromosomes is 2n = 56.
Onion and roots
The onions are between 1.5 and 3.5 centimeters long and 1.5 to 3 centimeters wide and consist of narrow, egg-shaped, reddish-brown onion scales of the same shape. These are hairy glandular. The outer protective scales are wider and hyaline and less hairy on the edge . The inner scales are thicker and store more starch . As the onions get older, calcium oxalate and tannin are stored in the scales.
Always towards the end of the year, small pale yellow onions form at the tip of the stolons, which become pinched after two to three years. About half of the scales on these onions are only used to store nutrients , while the other half can be differentiated into leaves.
Onions, onions and seedlings form contractile roots with which they can pull themselves into the ground. The roots are unbranched and have only a few root hairs. They are not very efficient at absorbing water.
leaves
The one to nine leaves are fingered in four parts , rarely in three parts. The 10 to 40 centimeters long petioles are about a third as long as the inflorescence stems and, like these, thinly overgrown with between 0.2 and 2 millimeters long, septate (split) and unseptate trichomes .
The up to 1 millimeter long stalked leaflets are inverted triangular or rarely obovate and have entire margins or lobed up to a quarter of their length . They are between 20 and 65 millimeters long and about as wide as they are long. The upper side of the leaf is bare or, like the underside of the leaf, thinly overgrown with hairs between 0.2 and 2 millimeters long. The stems are green-brown to reddish and hairy.
Calcium storages are found mainly on the distal margin, less often they are arbitrary use of the leaf blade scattered.
Inflorescences and flowers
The one to three inflorescence shafts per plant have a length between 15 and 50 centimeters. The shamrock inflorescences are usually 6- to 13-flowered (3 to 22-flowered). The bracts are between 1.5 and 8 millimeters long and hairy or hairless. The hairy flower stalks have a length of 8 to 28 millimeters. The hermaphroditic, radially symmetrical , five-fold flowers have a diameter of about 2 centimeters.
The calyx is orange, reddish-black or black. The sepals are narrowly ovate and five- to nine-veined. They are bald or slightly hairy. The tip is rounded or cut off with two to four calcium oxalate deposits.
The crown is 11 to 20 millimeters long and in the lower part fused with free lobes between 5 and 11 millimeters long. The corolla tube is yellowish green. The free corolla lobes are pink to carmine red.
Flower organs
The flowers of the lucky clover are trimorphic heterostyle , which means that there are three different types of flowers on one species. The flowers types when sorrel according to the length of the stylus distinguished (short-styled, medium-styled and long-styled flowers). The stamens are in two whorls, those of the outer whorl are shorter and those of the inner longer. In the middle are the female flower organs. Long-styled flowers are most common in the lucky clover.
In the short-styled flowers, the stamens of the outer whorl are between 4 and 7 millimeters long and those of the inner whorl are 5 to 10 millimeters in diameter. The gynoeceum (the female sexual organs) are 2.5 to 4.5 millimeters long and the stylus 0.5 to 1 millimeter. The scar is 0.3 to 0.5 millimeters wide.
In the medium-styled flowers, the stamens are shorter overall (outer whorl 2–4 millimeters, inner whorl 6–8 millimeters) and style, gynoeceum and stigma are larger (style 1–2.5 millimeters, gynoeceum 3–5 millimeters, stigma 0.3 -0.5 millimeters). This trend is intensified in the long-styled flowers (stamens outer whorl 2–4 millimeters, inner whorl 4–6 millimeters, stylus 4–5 millimeters, gynoecum 6–9 millimeters, stigma 0.3–0.4 millimeters).
Fruits and seeds
The four- to five-seeded, ellipsoidal, bald or slightly hairy capsule fruits have a length between 5 and 12 millimeters and have a sharp point. The fruits are about a quarter of the cup enclosed. The seeds are brownish, oblong ovoid, flattened on the sides and between 1.5 and 2 millimeters long and 0.8 to 1.2 millimeters wide.
distribution
The lucky clover is endemic to Mexico and grows there in annual corridors . The variety Oxalis tetraphylla var. Tetraphylla is common in the states of Veracruz , México , Morelos and Michoacán . Oxalis tetraphylla var. Mexicana is native to Hidalgo and Guerrero , whereas Oxalis tetraphylla var. Guerreroensis is found in the states of Oaxaca , Guerrero, Michoacán and Colima .
A single small occurrence has been reported in Costa Rica , but it is unclear whether it is of natural origin. Another probably neophytic occurrence is found in the northwestern Himalayas. The species was introduced as an ornamental plant in England in 1837 and since then neophytic populations have repeatedly appeared in Europe . There are also imported deposits in North America , Africa and Australia. Because of the onions underground, the species is difficult to control but is typically not considered invasive . In Japan the species is considered invasive.
Systematics
Within the genus sorrel ( Oxalis ) of the four-leaf clover in which is section Ionoxalis provided. The closest related seems to be Oxalis latifolia , with which the species regularly hybridizes . This hybrid Oxalis latifolia × tetraphylla was in 1919 by Knuth as Oxalis tlalpamensis described . More recent studies, however, reject a species status for this natural hybrid.
The species is divided into three allopatric varieties :
- Oxalis tetraphylla var. Tetraphylla : With significantly larger pollen than in the other varieties and 7 to 10-nerved onion scales. Seeds with 8 longitudinal and 13 transverse ribs.
- Oxalis tetraphylla var. Mexicana Denton : With 3-nerved onion scales and smooth seeds. The variety is common sympatric with Oxalis decaphylla .
- Oxalis tetraphylla var. Guerreroensis Denton : With 5- to 7-nerved onion scales and seeds with 11 to 12 longitudinal and 14 transverse ribs.
Botanical history
Oxalis tetraphylla was of Antonio José Cavanilles in his Icones et descriptiones plantarum in 1794 first described . The name consists of the ancient Greek τετρά tetra (= four) and φυλλον phýllon (= leaf), after the four-part leaf. The holotype is archived today in Madrid . He was either on an expedition from 1787 to 1803 to New Spain under the direction of Martín Sessé y Lacasta or on the expedition between 1789 and 1794, which was led by Alessandro Malaspina and took him from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska and through the Pacific to Australia, discovered.
Ferdinand Deppe also discovered the lucky clover on his expedition to Mexico, which lasted from 1824 to 1826, and brought it to England, where it was described by Conrad Loddiges , in honor of Deppe, under the name Oxalis deppei . The species quickly became very popular as an ornamental plant in England.
Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze placed the species in the genus Acetosella in 1891 . He made a distinction between Acetosella tetraphylla and Acetosella deppei .
Joseph Nelson Rose put the species in its own genus Ionoxalis in 1906 , which was later put as a section to Oxalis . John Kunkel Small also followed up with Ionoxalis deppei a year later .
In 1919 Paul Erich Otto Wilhelm Knuth published an overview of the genus Oxalis in the note sheet of the Botanical Garden and Museum in Berlin-Dahlem , in which the lucky clover was again placed in the genus Oxalis . It was later Oxalis deppei then as a synonym of Oxalis tetraphylla recognized.
use
The four-leaf clover has been considered a sign of good luck since ancient times, but actually it refers to leaves of species of the clover genus ( Trifolium ). True four-leaf clover are mostly found on white clover ( Trifolium repens ). Nevertheless, the lucky clover, which only has four-leaved leaves, is very popular as an ornamental plant . It is given away especially on New Year's Eve .
The species is mainly planted in window boxes, planters and borders. It has been in culture since 1822 at the latest. Well-known varieties are "Iron Cross" and "Alba" with white flowers.
Once dried, the onions can be cooked like carrots. The species is of little or no importance as a food plant.
Web links
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Much of the information in this article comes from the following sources:
literature
- Melinda F. Denton: A Monograph of Oxalis, Section Ionoxalis in North America . In: Publications of the Museum. Michigan State University, Biological Series . tape 4 , no. 10 , 1973, ISSN 0076-8227 , pp. 588-597 .
- Flora of Panama, Part IV, Family 84. Oxalidaceae . In: Robert E. Woodson Jr., Robert W. Schery, Alicia Lourteig (Eds.): Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden . tape 67 , no. 1 , 1980, p. 847-849 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
- Eckehart J. Jäger, Friedrich Ebel, Peter Hanelt, Gerd K. Müller (eds.): Excursion flora from Germany . Founded by Werner Rothmaler. tape 5 : Herbaceous ornamental and useful plants . Springer, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8274-0918-8 , pp. 368 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Clive Stace, R. van der Meijden, I. de Kort (Ed.): Interactive Flora of the British Isles. A digital encyclopedia . (DVD-ROM). ETI Information Services Ltd., Wokingham 2004, ISBN 90-75000-69-3 , pp. 3956 (in English, online [accessed November 5, 2008]).
- ↑ BS Kalakoti, YPS Pangtey, GS Rawat: Oxalis tetraphylla Cav .: a new record for North-Western Himalaya . In: Indian Journal of Forestry . tape 6 , no. 2 , 1983, p. 168 (English).
- ↑ Toshikazu Mito, Tetsuro Uesugi: Invasive Alien Species in Japan: The Status Quo and the New Regulation for Prevention of their Adverse Effects . In: Global Environmental Research . tape 8 , no. 2 , 2004, p. 171–191 (English, PDF file ( Memento from March 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive )). Invasive Alien Species in Japan: The Status Quo and the New Regulation for Prevention of their Adverse Effects ( Memento of March 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Antonio José Cavanilles : Icones et descriptiones plantarum, quae aut sponte in Hispania crescunt, aut in hortis hospitantur . tape III . Madrid 1794, p. 19–20, Tab. 237 (Latin, online [PDF]).
- ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-16-7 , p. 637 (reprint from 1996).
- ^ Anne Raver: Gourmet Vegetables: Smart Tips and Tasty Picks for Gardeners and Gourmet Cook . Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York 2002, ISBN 1-889538-51-5 , pp. 17 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
