Late blooming bird cherry

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Late blooming bird cherry
Late blooming bird cherry (Prunus serotina)

Late blooming bird cherry ( Prunus serotina )

Systematics
Order : Rose-like (rosales)
Family : Rose family (Rosaceae)
Subfamily : Spiraeoideae
Tribe : Stone fruit family (Amygdaleae)
Genre : Prunus
Type : Late blooming bird cherry
Scientific name
Prunus serotina
Honor

The late blooming bird cherry ( Prunus serotina ), also called late bird cherry or American bird cherry , is a species of the genus Prunus . It originates from North America and is one of the problematic neophytes in some parts of Europe .

The common bird cherry , native to Europe , reaches somewhat lower stature heights, prefers to grow on damp and wet soils and is particularly widespread in riparian forests in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.

description

Flowering shrub
inflorescence

Habitus

The fast-growing late-blooming bird cherry is a shrub to small tree in Europe that usually reaches heights of less than 20 meters. In some cases, e.g. B. in the Freiburg Mooswald, specimens occur with a height of up to 30 m and in their native North America specimens with heights of growth of up to 35 meters occur. The late blooming bird cherry forms an elongated treetop and dense foliage. Their relatively short branches are aligned horizontally and barked in dark brown. The bark of young branches is bare. The long shoots have an end bud.

leaf

The alternate arranged leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The 6 to 25 millimeter long petiole has two to four glands. The simple leaf blade is 4 to 12 centimeters long. Their shape varies from oblong-egg-shaped to oblong-lanceolate. It has a wedge-shaped base and tapers towards the tip of the blade. The leaf margin is serrated. The small, cartilaginous teeth are curved inward. The underside of the leaf is colored light green. There are yellowish hairs along the midrib. The upper side of the leaf is dark green and - in contrast to the native bird cherry - shiny. In autumn the leaves take on vivid yellow to orange colors . They not only grow on twigs and branches, but can also be found as small leaves on the fruit grapes.

Inflorescence and flower

The flowering period extends from May to June. Up to 30 flowers stand together in a 6 to 15 centimeter long, cylindrical, racemose inflorescence . The inflorescence is initially upright, then orientates itself downwards until it overhangs at the end of the flowering period. At the base of the inflorescence there are leaves with a diameter of about 8 to 10 millimeters and small bracts. The flower stalks are 3 to 8 millimeters long. The hermaphrodite, fragrant flowers are radially symmetrical and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five petals are white.

fruit

The fruits are first light red, then purple-red, when ripe black drupes up to 1 cm in size. The cherries have a small, circular indentation on the side opposite the stem and small sepals at the base of the stem . The cherry pits are smaller than the average-sized sour cherry pits and slightly longer. The edible cherries ripen from the end of July to the end of August, are aromatic and sweet, but often have an unpleasant bitter aftertaste. They can be eaten as fruit , made into juices or puree (similar to sloes ). In Scandinavian countries, distillates are made from the black berries. In the USA, the fruits are used to flavor rum and brandy.

Chromosome number

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 32.

Synecology

The late blooming bird cherry is considered to be the host plant for the aphid Myzus persicae , which transmits a viral disease of the sugar beet .

Toxicity

The seeds in the stone cores in particular, much less flowers and bark, contain cyanogenic glycosides and are poisonous for humans and animals. Consumption can lead to symptoms of intoxication .

All parts of the plant are poisonous, especially the seeds and bark. The main active ingredients in the bark are prunasin and scopoletin and the prussic acid content in fresh leaves was 210 mg / 100 g.

In humans, symptoms of poisoning are comparable to those of Prunus laurocerasus .

Teratogenic effects have occurred in pregnant pigs after eating leaves or bark ; one angora goat was poisoned fatally after it ate the leaves.

Distribution and location

Original distribution of the late blooming bird cherry ( Prunus serotina )

The late blooming bird cherry is native to North America, especially in the east of the USA. It is also found in the temperate climatic zones of the South American Andes in Ecuador and Peru . In northern Peru near Cajamarca it is used at traditional festivals after Carnival, so-called "Unshas".

As a neophyte , the late blooming bird cherry has spread independently in Europe . It occurs there especially in light forests, in bank bushes and as an ornamental shrub or tree in gardens . According to the results of the Third National Forest Inventory (2012), it is now the most common foreign tree species in the young stock of German forests , with a total area of ​​104,000 hectares or an area share of almost four percent. In Switzerland, it was included in the black list of invasive neophytes due to its potential for spreading and the damage in the areas of biodiversity , health and economy .

The black cherry grows best on moist sand and clay soils with acidic to weakly basic soil pH . It occurs mainly in the lowlands and can also live with the occasional flood . It tolerates sun to light shade, grows well in urban climates and is windproof because it forms a heart-root system. It is relatively insensitive to winter and late frosts. The late blooming bird cherry is therefore also suitable as a pioneer colonist of fallow land, but due to its formation of root brood it is difficult to contain again if it encounters a well-suited habitat. It is one of the bee nourishment trees , the nectar value is moderate, the pollen value poor.

History as an invasive plant in Europe

The late blooming bird cherry was brought to Europe as early as 1623. The first mentions for Germany come from the year 1685. It was cultivated as an ornamental wood in gardens and parks. Since the late blooming bird cherry grows well on poor soils in its homeland and provides valuable wood, it was hoped that similar properties would be found in cultivation in Germany. In the late 19th century, the suitability for forestry was tested as part of so-called foreign test cultivation. However, it turned out that the late blooming bird cherry usually only grows more or less shrub-like under local conditions. Large-scale plantings began in the Netherlands in the 1920s . An increase in the one expected soil fertility in conifer cultures, on heaths and wind-exposed locations.

Up until the 1950s, some planted the late blooming bird cherry during reforestation. A few years later, however, it was assessed as a harmful invasive plant and controlled - in the Netherlands since 1963 as bospest ("forest plague"). This is because it can form a dense layer of shrubbery, which makes many forestry work difficult and hinders other woody plants when it comes to natural regeneration . Even though the control measures removed a considerable amount of undergrowth, the success was not resounding. The late blooming bird cherry develops very vital root brood from accidentally forgotten pieces of root , growing faster and forming denser stands than core growths . Herbicides were found to be of little use because they also damaged other crops and had a detrimental effect on the soil. Only a combined method consisting of careful sawing of the trunks, targeted application of herbicides and not overly large areas, and covering stumps with plastic film to block the light from the stumps was sustained . This type of control is complex and expensive. Some experts are of the opinion that the populations of the late blooming bird cherry will thin out on their own if the affected areas are left to an undisturbed succession .

A form of biological control with the violet cartilage layer fungus ( Chondrostereum purpureum ) is currently being tested . Here, a mycelium suspension of the fungus is applied to freshly cut surfaces of the late blooming bird cherry. From the studies available so far it is clear that Chondrostereum purpureum can cause considerable damage to Prunus serotina when properly applied . Since Chondrostereum purpureum occurs very frequently in nature and is also relatively short-lived, its use as a mycoherbicide has no ecological effects on the local fungal flora or other organisms. However, the previous field tests in the forests of Berlin's forests do not yet allow a conclusive assessment of the practicability of the method.

literature

  • Uwe Starfinger: The naturalization of the late blooming bird cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.) In Central Europe. In: Landscape Development and Environmental Research. No. 69, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-7983-1357-1 (also dissertation at the Technische Universität Berlin [1990]).
  • C. Haag, U. Wilhelm: The late blooming bird cherry. Working with “unwanted” tree species or dragging a catastrophe? In: AFZ, the forest. General forestry journal for forest management and environmental protection, 53rd volume, issue 6, 1998, pp. 276–279, Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, Munich 1998 ISSN  1430-2713

Individual evidence

  1. Scholz, Scholz: Prunus ... In: Hildemar Scholz (Hrsg.): Illustrated flora of Central Europe. Founded by Gustav Hegi. 2nd, completely revised and enlarged edition. Volume IV Part 2B: Spermatophyta: Angiospermae: Dicotyledones 2 (3) (Rosaceae, 2nd part). , Blackwell, Berlin / Vienna et al. 1995, ISBN 3-8263-2533-8 , p. 470ff.
  2. ^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas. 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , p. 573.
  3. a b c Lutz Roth, Max Daunderer, Kurt Kormann: Toxic Plants - Plant Poisons. Occurrence, effect, therapy, allergic and phototoxic reactions. With a special section about poisonous animals. 6th, revised edition. Special edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-86820-009-6 .
  4. a b c Dietrich Frohne, Hans Jürgen Pfänder: Toxic Plants, A manual for pharmacists, doctors, toxicologists and biologists. 5th, revised and expanded edition. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8047-2060-9 .
  5. F. Kroiher, A. Bolte: Nature conservation and biodiversity in the mirror of the BWI 2012. In: AFZ-Der Wald. 21/2015.
  6. ^ Federal Office for the Environment FOEN: Invasive Alien Species . ( admin.ch [accessed on August 6, 2019]).
  7. S. Buholzer, M. Nobis, N. Schoenenberger, S. Rometsch: List of the alien invasive plants of Switzerland . Ed .: Infoflora. ( infoflora.ch [accessed on August 6, 2019]).
  8. Paul Heydeck, Malte Münte: The violet cartilage layer fungus as a "bioherbicide" against bird cherry. In: AFZ DerWald. 4/2008. (PDF; 525 kB)
  9. Malte Münte: Late blooming grape cherry in Berlin. In: AFZ DerWald. 13/2009. (PDF; 1.6 MB)

Web links

Commons : Late blooming bird cherry ( Prunus serotina )  - album with pictures, videos and audio files