White carnation

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White carnation
White carnation (Silene latifolia)

White carnation ( Silene latifolia )

Systematics
Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family : Carnation family (Caryophyllaceae)
Subfamily : Caryophylloideae
Tribe : Sileneae
Genre : Glue herbs ( Silene )
Type : White carnation
Scientific name
Silene latifolia
Poir.

The Broad campion ( Silene latifolia ), also white campion , White Campion , Night-campion and campion called, is a flowering plant in the family of the Pink family (Caryophyllaceae). It is widespread in Eurasia .

Its flowers do not open until the afternoon and then give off their pleasant scent to attract night butterflies; they close again at dusk.

description

Illustration from Strassburger
Flowers fading from the side
Capsule fruits and seeds
Blossom from the side with overgrown sepals and white petals
Frontal view of the flower

The white light carnation is an annual to perennial herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 30 to 120 centimeters. The stem is branched at the base and softly hairy glandular. The leaves are opposite and 3 to 10 centimeters long. The leaf blades are ovate to ovate-lanceolate, pointed and hairy at the end. The basal leaves are stalked and the upper ones sessile.

The flowers, which are strongly scented in the evening, are radial symmetry and five-fold. The five sepals are about 1.5 to 3 inches long and have narrow triangular calyx teeth. The calyx of the male flowers is ten-nerved, that of the female flowers 20-nerved. The calyx is only inflated in the latter and hermaphrodite flowers. The white petals are about 3 inches long. Each crown leaf is divided into the so-called nail (the long, wedge-shaped crown leaf part pointing into the calyx) and the plate (the crown leaf part pointing outwards at right angles to the nail). At the transition from nail to plate there are small tissue appendages which are collectively referred to as the secondary crown.

The egg-shaped capsule fruit is roughly the same size as the calyx, with outwardly curved teeth. The capsule fruit contains about 1.5 millimeters long, slender, gray to dark gray to brown seeds.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.

ecology

The white carnation is annual in summer or winter or a biennial semi-rosette plant. Their roots grow up to 60 cm deep

From an ecological point of view, it is a matter of "plate flowers with protruding anthers and styluses". They stand in arm-blooded dichasias and are dioecious to trio. The distribution of the sex chromosomes is the same as in humans (XX, XY). The hermaphrodite flowers are vormännlich. This means that the pollen is formed first , and only when the flower is older and in the female stage do the now ripe stigmas absorb the pollen from pollinating insects. This mechanism prevents the plant from pollinating itself.

They are typical moth flowers: they only open in the evening or, in bad weather, in the afternoon. Only then do the flowers smell intensely and attract long-nosed moths with their scent . Smaller insects are rejected. This is ensured by the 2 mm high pharyngeal scales that surround the throat entrance as a side crown . The nectar is separated from the fleshy flower base . In female flowers it is 2.0 to 2.5 cm deep, in male flowers 1.5 to 1.8 cm deep. Most pollinators are moths of the families Noctuidae and Sphingidae . The flowering period lasts from June to September.

The capsule fruits are surrounded by an enlarged calyx that serves as a vestibule. It is closed in wet weather. The capsule teeth are curved outward when dry and serve as Velcro. Accordingly, the white carnation is a wind and animal spreader. Fruit ripening from August. The fruits are winter dwellers . The seeds of the Silene species are very decorative due to their numerous humps (magnifying glass).

The anther brandy Microbotryum violaceum grows on the stamens of the white light carnation, making the plant sterile.

Blossom infested with anther blight ( Microbotryum violaceum )

Occurrence

The white light carnation is native to Eurasia and North Africa, in North America, Australia and New Zealand it is a neophyte . It is a meridional to boreal flora element and thrives at low to medium altitudes (up to 700 meters). In the Allgäu Alps, it rises in the Kleiner Walsertal near the Ifenhütte up to 1580 m above sea level.

The white carnation can be found quite often in weed corridors of rubble sites, as well as on paths and field edges. It grows best on fairly nitrogen rich , not too poor in bases clay soils . She is a light plant . In Central Europe it is a kind of the sub-association Artemisienea, but also occurs in societies of the associations Sisymbrion or Caucalidion.

Systematics

Silene latifolia has a number of synonyms: Lychnis divaricata Rchb. , Lychnis macrocarpa Boiss. & Reut. , Lychnis vespertina Sibth. , nom. illegal. Lychnis alba Mill. , Lychnis arvensis P.Gaertn. , Lychnis pratensis Rafn , Melandrium pratense (Rafn) Röhl. , Silene pratensis (Rafn) Godr. , Melandrium album (Mill.) Garcke , Melandrium eriocalycinum Boiss. , Silene alba (Mill.) EHLKrause [non Britton 1893] nom. illegal.

use

The underground plant parts were earlier because of their content of saponins used as "White soap root" medicinally and for washing.

Surname

The Latin generic name Silene refers to Silenus , the companion of Bacchus in Greek mythology, and his image as puffy and fat-bellied; transferred to the entire genus from the inflated calyx of the pigeon goiter ( Silene vulgaris). The species name latifolia is Latin for "broad-leaved".

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ FloraWeb: Data and information on wild plants and vegetation in Germany. Retrieved February 2, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b c Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Page 365. Stuttgart, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 2001. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 365.
  3. ↑ Kaltz, O., Gandon, S., Michalakis, Y. & Shykoff, JA 1999. Local maladaptation in the anther-smut fungus Microbotryum violaceum to its host plant Silene latifolia: evidence from a cross-inoculation experiment. Evolution 53: 395-407. doi: 10.2307 / 2640776
  4. ^ Silene in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  5. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 474.
  6. ↑ Karol Marhold, 2011: Caryophyllaceae : Datasheet Silene latifolia In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.
  7. ↑ Düll, Ruprecht., Kutzelnigg, Herfried .: Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries: the most common Central European species in portrait . 7., corr. and exp. Edition Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 , p. 728 .

Web links

Commons : White light carnation ( Silene latifolia )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files