Slim cotton grass

Slim cotton grass
	Slender cotton-grass ( Eriophorum gracile ), illustration from Flora Batava , Volume 19, 1893
Systematics
	Monocots
	Commelinids
Order :	Sweet grass (Poales)
Family :	Sourgrass family (Cyperaceae)
Genre :	Cottongrass ( Eriophorum )
Type :	Slim cotton grass
Scientific name
	Eriophorum gracile
	WDJ chef ex Roth

The slender cottongrass ( Eriophorum gracile ), also called dainty cottongrass , is a species of plant that belongs to the sour grass family (Cyperaceae). It thrives in nutrient-poor moors and moor forests . It is very rare with only scattered occurrences in Europe and North America .

description

Herbarium evidence

inflorescence

Vegetative characteristics

The slim cottongrass is a perennial , herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 10 to 70 centimeters. This geophyte grows in loose grass and forms up to 15 centimeters long subterranean runners . The stems grow upright to slightly arched (often nodding at maturity). The stem base is round, bluntly triangular at the top, smooth and slender.

The basal leaf sheaths are brown, sometimes slightly reddish, dull, sharp, triangular and latticed. The leaf blades are linear, the lower ones flat, the upper ones triangular almost from the base. The lower leaves are shorter than half the length of the stem and less than 4 millimeters wide. The upper leaves (up to about half of the stem) reach 3 to 5 centimeters in length and less than 2 millimeters in width. The Ligule (ligule) are less than 1 millimeter, round, wider than long; the top leaf has no ligule.

Generative characteristics

The flowering period extends from May to June. The inflorescence is not dominated by the foliage -like bracts . The inflorescence consists of two to four sessile to stalked, often almost erect spikelets . The spikelets are 5 to 10 millimeters long and twelve to thirty flowered. The ear stalks are rough due to dense short hairs. The husks are blunt, yellow to reddish brown and have skin margins. In contrast to, for example, the narrow-leaved cottongrass ( Eriophorum angustifolium ) or the broad-leaved cottongrass ( Eriophorum latifolium ), the husks have many nerves. The Hüllfäden the perianth (Perianth) are less numerous than for example in the vaginal cotton grass ( Eriophorum vaginatum ) and 2.5 centimeters long. Their long flower covering threads remain at the base of the caryopsis (a special form of the nut fruit) after ripening and form a flying and swimming apparatus for better distribution of the seeds in the air and in the water. The fruit is blunt triangular, smooth and 2 to 3 millimeters long.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 76.

ecology

The slim cottongrass is an evergreen geophyte and hydrophyte . It overwinters with underground or submerged rhizomes from which it sprouts in spring. The slim cottongrass is wind-blooming ( anemophilia ). The diaspores spread through the wind ( anemochory ).

Distribution and location

The slim cottongrass has scattered occurrences all over Europe and goes northward to southern England and Scandinavia , in the Baltic States and in Eastern Europe to latitude 69 ° north. To the south it is found in the Pyrenees , the Alps , isolated in the North Apennines and on the Balkan Peninsula as far as Bulgaria . In Europe it is only missing over a large area in the Mediterranean area and in the plains of Hungary . Eriophorum gracile is common in North America.

The slim cottongrass occurs in Central Europe from the lowlands to altitudes of up to around 1740 meters (Bavaria), 1220 meters (Switzerland) and thrives in the planar-colline to montane altitudes . In the Allgäu Alps it rises up to 1000 meters above sea level. Its total area is in the subarctic and temperate zones of the northern hemisphere, it is given with ten million to one and a half billion km².

The slim cottongrass occurs on partially lime-poor, weakly acidic but moderately alkaline-rich , permanent moor soils in sour and intermediate bogs, on vibrating lawns , for example in rural hand- peat cuttings, and on silting mesophilic moor waters .

According to Ellenberg's pointer values , it is a half-light to full-light plant. Its ecological focus is on soils that are often soaked to flooded, poor to nitrogen poor, acidic to moderately acidic soils . It is not salt bearing.

Socialization

The slim cottongrass is a characteristic species of various plant communities of the Kleinseggenriede . It is part of the thread sedge bogs (Caricetum lasiocarpae) and is also found in wire sedge bogs (Caricetum diandrae). The moss layer is dominated by peat or deciduous mosses from the Amblystegiaceae ( brown moss ) group. As a glacial relic , it is very rare in rain bogs .

Hazard and protection

The lean cottongrass is endangered throughout Europe but is not separately protected worldwide. The eutrophication of soils due to immissions is given as the cause of risk . In Germany, the slim cottongrass is considered to be threatened with extinction (endangerment status 1), but is not specially protected under the BArtSchV . Their area share in Germany is ten percent. The stocks are in decline.

In Switzerland it is considered endangered with moderately to severely declining populations.

Sources and further reading

Individual evidence

↑ Jürke Grau , Bruno P. Kremer, Bodo M. Möseler, Gerhard Rambold, Dagmar Triebel: Grasses. Sweet grasses, sour grasses, rushes and grass-like families in Europe (= Steinbach's natural guide). New, edit. Special edition edition. Mosaik, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-576-10702-9 .

^ 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. 158 .

↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 222.

↑ C. Käsermann: Eriophorum gracile ROTH - Slim cotton grass - Cyperaceae. Leaflets on Species Protection - Flowering Plants and Ferns ( PDF ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) on August 3, 2006 @1@ 2

^ Heinz Ellenberg , HE Weber, Ruprecht Düll , V. Wirth, W. Werner, D. Paulißen: Pointer values of plants in Central Europe. Scripta Geobotanica 18, Verlag Erich Goltze, 1992. ISBN 3-88452-518-2

↑ Erich Oberdorfer : South German Plant Societies. Part I: Rock and wall communities, alpine corridors, water, silting and moor communities. 4th edition, Gustav Fischer, Jena, Stuttgart, 1998. ISBN 3-437-35280-6

↑ Slim cotton grass. In: FloraWeb.de.

↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Federal Office for the Environment, Red List download.

literature

Klaus Dierssen, Barbara Dierssen: Moore . Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3245-1 .
Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora . Ulmer, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-8252-1828-7 .

Web links

Commons : Slender Cottongrass ( Eriophorum gracile ) - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Slim cotton grass . In: BiolFlor, the database of biological-ecological characteristics of the flora of Germany.
Profile and distribution map for Bavaria . In: Botanical Information Hub of Bavaria .
Eriophorum gracile Roth, Zierliches Wollgras, Linaigrette grêle, Pennacchi gracili at Info Flora, the national data and information center for Swiss flora .
Thomas Meyer: Data sheet with identification key and photos at Blumeninschwaben.de
Photos: [1] , [2] , [3] , [4]

Distribution maps:

[Grau1996-1] Jürke Grau , Bruno P. Kremer, Bodo M. Möseler, Gerhard Rambold, Dagmar Triebel: Grasses. Sweet grasses, sour grasses, rushes and grass-like families in Europe (= Steinbach's natural guide). New, edit. Special edition edition. Mosaik, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-576-10702-9 .

[Oberdorfer2001-2] 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. 158 .

[Dörr_und_Lippert-3] Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 222.