Snowberries
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Inflorescence of a common snowberry ( Symphoricarpos albus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Symphoricarpos | ||||||||||||
| Duhamel |
The Snowberry ( Symphoricarpos ) are a genus of flowering plants in the family of Honeysuckle (Caprifoliaceae). With the exception of one Chinese species ( Symphoricarpos sinensis ), all species are native to North America and Mexico.
description
Appearance and leaves
Snowberry species grow as relatively low, deciduous shrubs . They usually form runners. The winter buds have a few pairs of bud scales. The opposite leaves are stalked short. The simple leaf blades are entire or lobed on long shoots. Stipules are missing.
Inflorescences and flowers
Their flowers are sometimes individually in the leaf axils of the uppermost leaves, but mostly at the ends of the branches in terminal or axillary, head-like shortened, spike-like inflorescences. The relatively small and relatively inconspicuous flowers are almost radial symmetry and four or five-fold. The four or five sepals are fused into a short, wide, cup-shaped tube that ends with four or five short sepals . The four or five petals are fused together like a bell, funnel or plate. The corolla tube, which is slightly arched at its base, is hairy or long fluffy on the inside and ends in four or five corolla lobes. The color of the petals is reddish to white. It is just a circle with four or five stamens that are inserted into the corolla tube and protrude from it at most for a short time. The ovary is vierfächrig with two sterile each is compartments, each with several sterile ovules, in the other two subjects, only one fertile ovule . The thin stylus ends in a large, capitate or slightly bilobed stigma .
Fruits and seeds
The spherical, egg-shaped or ellipsoidal, berry-like, poisonous stone fruits usually turn white or whitish-reddish to pink-red or bluish-black when ripe. The pulp is spongy and contains two 2 to 5 mm long, whitish stone cores. The egg-shaped and more or less flattened seeds contain endosperm and a small embryo . The white fruits are also popularly known as snap peas because when thrown firmly on the ground they create a small bang when they burst.
distribution
15 species of the genus Symphoricarpos are originally found only in North America and Mexico . Only one species ( Symphoricarpos sinensis ) is native to China.
The common snowberry ( Symphoricarpos albus ) has also established itself as a neophyte in the temperate latitudes .
Systematics
The genus Symphoricarpos was established in 1755 by Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau in Traité des Arbres et Arbustes , 2, p. 295. Type species is Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Moench .
There are about 16 species in the genus Symphoricarpos :
- Symphoricarpos acutus (A.Gray) Dieck : It is native to California , Nevada and Oregon .
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Common snowberry ( Symphoricarpos albus (L.) SFBlake ): It is widespread in North America; with the varieties:
- Symphoricarpos albus (L.) SFBlake var. Albus
- White snowberry ( Symphoricarpos albus var. Laevigatus (Fernald) SFBlake , Syn . : Symphoricarpos rivularis Suksd. )
- Symphoricarpos guadalupensis Correll : The home is Texas.
- Symphoricarpos hesperius G.N.Jones : It is distributed in western North America from British Colombia via Washington, California, Oregon to Idaho .
- Symphoricarpos longiflorus A.Gray : The home is the USA and northern Mexico.
- Mexican snowberry ( Symphoricarpos mexicanus hort. Ex K. Koch )
- Small-leaved snowberry ( Symphoricarpos microphyllus Kunth ): It occurs only in New Mexico .
- Creeping snowberry ( Symphoricarpos mollis Nutt. ): It occurs only in western Canada and the western USA.
- Western snowberry or wolfberry ( Symphoricarpos occidentalis Hook. ): It is widespread in North America.
- Coralberry ( Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Moench ): It is widespread in central and eastern North America.
- Mountain snowberry ( Symphoricarpos oreophilus A.Gray ): It is native to Canada (British Columbia), the USA and northern Mexico.
- Symphoricarpos palmeri G.N.Jones : The home is the USA (Colorado, Arizona, New Mexicom Texas).
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Round-leaved snowberry ( Symphoricarpos rotundifolius A.Gray ); home is Canada (British Columbia), the United States and northern Mexico; with the varieties:
- Symphoricarpos rotundifolius var. Parishii (Rydb.) Dempster (Syn .: Symphoricarpos parishii Rydb. )
- Symphoricarpos rotundifolius A. Gray var. Rotundifolius
- Symphoricarpos sinensis Rehder : This very rare species thrives at altitudes between 600 and 2300 meters in the Chinese provinces: southern Gansu , Guangxi , western Hubei , Shaanxi , eastern Sichuan and northern Yunnan only on small growing species.
There are the following hybrids:
- Low purple berry or bastard coral berry ( Symphoricarpos × chenaultii Rehder = Symphoricarpos microphyllus × Symphoricarpos orbiculatus )
- Symphoricarpos × doorenbosii Krüssm. = Symphoricarpos albus × Symphoricarpos × chenaultii
use
In the temperate latitudes, some varieties of some species are used as ornamental plants in parks and gardens, especially in hedges. For example, some varieties of the common snowberry ( Symphoricarpos albus ) - also under the name Knallerbse or Knallbeere - are planted as an ornamental plant.
The fruits of Symphoricarpos albus var. Laevigatus , Symphoricarpos occidentalis and Symphoricarpos orbiculatus are eaten raw or better cooked, but only if there is nothing else left. The fruits contain saponins, although these are poisonous, eaten fruits pass through the gastrointestinal tract without causing discomfort. The medical effects were examined.
Trivia
In 1999, Stefan Raab set a musical monument to the crackling pea bush in his song Maschen-Draht-Zaun .
swell
- Qiner Yang, Sven Landrein, Joanna Osborne & Renata Borosova: Caprifoliaceae . In: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven, Hong Deyuan (eds.): Flora of China . Cucurbitaceae through Valerianaceae with Annonaceae and Berberidaceae. tape 19 . Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing et al. 2011, ISBN 978-1-930723-99-3 , Symphoricarpos , p. 618 (English, " Symphoricarpos - Online " - online text is identical to the printed work; printed work - full text online). (Section description, systematics and dissemination)
Individual evidence
- ^ Symphoricarpos Duhamel - entry in Tropicos .
- ↑ a b c d e Symphoricarpos in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
- ↑ Symphoricarpos albus var. Laevigatus , Symphoricarpos occidentalis and Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Entry in Plants for A Future .
