Sweet umbel

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Sweet umbel
Sweet umbel (Myrrhis odorata)

Sweet umbel ( Myrrhis odorata )

Systematics
Family : Umbelliferae (Apiaceae)
Subfamily : Apioideae
Tribe : Scandiceae
Sub tribus : Scandicinae
Genre : Myrrhis
Type : Sweet umbel
Scientific name of the  genus
Myrrhis
Mill.
Scientific name of the  species
Myrrhis odorata
( L. ) Scop.

The Sweet Cicely , and myrrh chervil called ( Myrrhis odorata ) is the only species of the monotypic genus Myrrhis within the family of Umbelliferae (Apiaceae).

description

illustration
Double-gold inflorescences

Vegetative characteristics

The sweet umbel is a perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of growth of 60 to 200 centimeters. The plant parts smell strongly of aniseed. The stem is branched in the upper area. The nodes (nodes) and the leaf sheaths are shaggy hairy.

The leaves appear very early after the frost in early spring. The strikingly large leaves are divided into leaf sheath, petiole and leaf blade. The large leaf sheaths are softly hairy, especially underneath. The leaf blade is two to three times pinnate and is much larger than that of the similar meadow chervil ( Anthriscus sylvestris ) or the calf's goiter ( Chaerophyllum ) species.

Fruit heads

Generative characteristics

The flowering period extends from May to July. The double-gold inflorescence has 4 to 24 rays. A shell is missing. The envelope consists of five to seven leaves, which are almost completely white-skinned and which stand upright towards the anthesis . The umbels are partly hermaphrodite, partly purely male; the stalks of the male umbels are then shorter than those of the hermaphrodite and, moreover, glabrous. The umbilicus has hermaphroditic flowers mixed with male ones, these male flowers are then arranged inside. On the side umbels that bloom later, only male flowers are usually found (without ovary and without style). The petals are white, upside-down heart-shaped and have edged, the outer umbel is slightly larger than the others, which is why the umbel looks radiant.

Cultivated form of the sweet umbel, infructescence

The fruit is 15 to 25 millimeters long, almost glabrous, only slightly hairy at the tip, it is dark brown when ripe and shiny as if it has been painted, it has protruding ribs and a beak. The seeds are about 2 inches long and dark brown.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 22.

ecology

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The sweet umbel is a frost germer .

Habit and leaves

Occurrence

The sweet umbel is originally found in the Alps (especially in the foothills of the Alps ), the Pyrenees , Apennines and on the western Balkan peninsula and in the Caucasus region. Otherwise it is often overgrown and naturalized in Europe, even in Chile, so that the original area cannot be determined more precisely. According to R. Hand, she is originally in Spain, Andorra, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, European Russia and the Caucasus region . In Ireland, Iceland, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia it is a neophyte.

The sweet umbel rises in the mountains to an altitude of around 1900 meters. It occurs mostly in fat meadows, pastures, grass gardens, in tall herbaceous meadows, at the edges of forests, also in alluvial forests. It thrives best on chalky subsoil . The sweet umbel is primarily a species of the Rumicion alpini association, but also occurs in associations of the Aegopodion or Alliarion associations.

Systematics

The first publication took place in 1753 under the name Scandix odorata by the Swedish botanist Carl von Linné The new combination as Myrrhis odorata (L.) Scop. in the genus Myrrhis was published in 1771 by the Austrian botanist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli .

Myrrhis odorata is the only species of the monotypical genus Myrrhis Mill. The Subertribus Scandicinae from the tribe Scandiceae in the subfamily Apioideae within the family Apiaceae .

The following species, which were previously classified as sweet umbels ( Myrrhis ), are assigned to other genera:

use

The leaves are edible; they can be harvested from early spring to autumn. The seeds are used as a spice ; they are harvested in autumn when they have hardened.

All parts of the sweet umbel have an anise-like, sweet taste. Salads, sauces and fish dishes can be seasoned with the leaves. The fruits are used to refine cabbage dishes and pastries. If you add the fruit to sour compote , you can significantly reduce the amount of sugar added. (Important for diabetics ) Vegetables can be prepared from the roots. The boiled roots are finely chopped and a tasty salad with a vinegar / oil marinade. The sweet umbel is part of the chartreuse and various liqueurs.

The Sweet Cicely is a spice - and aromatic plant ( aniseed ), so it is for potpourris , scented bouquets, scented grass , scented hedges , scented garden uses. But it is also of flower ecology importance as a nectar plant for butterflies, bees and bumblebees.

As a medicinal herb , it is used in folk medicine as a blood purifier, and also against coughs and stomach weakness.

ingredients

The sweet umbel contains essential oils , mainly trans- anethole , germacrene, caryophyllene , limonene , myrcene , estragole and flavonoids .

literature

  • Avril Rodway: Herbs and Spices. The most useful plants in nature - culture and use. Tessloff Verlag, Hamburg 1980, ISBN 3-7886-9910-8 .
  • Albert Thellt : Myrrhis. In Gustav Hegi: Illustrated Flora of Central Europe. Pteridophyta, Spermatophyta . 2nd Edition. Volume V. Part 2: Angiospermae: Dicotyledones 3 (2) (Cactaceae - Cornaceae) . Carl Hanser and Paul Parey, Munich and Berlin / Hamburg 1966, ISBN 3-489-74021-1 , p. 1041-1046 (unchanged reprint from 1926 with addendum).
  • John Francis Michael Cannon: Myrrhis. In: TG Tutin, VH Heywood, NA Burges, DM Moore, DH Valentine, SM Walters, DA Webb (eds.): Flora Europaea . Volume 2: Rosaceae to Umbelliferae . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1968, ISBN 0-521-06662-X , pp. 327 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).

Single references

  1. ↑ a b 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.  703 .
  2. ↑ a b R. Hand (2011): Apiaceae. - In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Myrrhis data sheet
  3. ^ Giovanni Antonio Scopoli: Flora Carniolica , 2nd edition, 1, 1771, p. 207.
  4. ↑ Myrrhis odorata in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland ..

Web links

Commons : Sweet umbel ( Myrrhis odorata )  - album with pictures, videos and audio files