Stemless cowslip

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Stemless cowslip
Stemless cowslip (Primula vulgaris)

Stemless cowslip ( Primula vulgaris )

Systematics
Family : Primrose Family (Primulaceae)
Subfamily : Primuloideae
Genre : Primroses ( primula )
Subgenus : Primula
Section : Primula
Type : Stemless cowslip
Scientific name
Primula vulgaris
Huds.

The stemless cowslip ( Primula vulgaris Huds. , Syn . : Primula acaulis (L.) Hill , Primula veris var. Acaulis L. ) is a species of the genus of the primroses ( Primula ). Other names for the species are shankless cowslip , shankless primrose or earth primrose . Specimens in parks and gardens are almost always planted or overgrown garden varieties and hybrids and are also called garden primroses .

description

Illustration from Flora Batava , Volume 14
Habit, leaves and flowers

Appearance and foliage leaf

The stemless cowslip is a perennial , herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 5 to 10 centimeters. The rhizome is short.

The ribs on the underside of the leaf blade, the edges of the blade, the flower stalks and the edges of the calyx are covered with about 2 millimeters long, articulated trichomes . Short, light-colored glandular hairs are found on the underside of the leaf and occasionally on the other parts of the plant .

The leaves are curled backwards in the bud position. The leaf blade is between 3 and 6 centimeters long during flowering and enlarges until the fruit is ripe. It is wrinkled, membranous, obovate or oblong and rounded at the tip. The Spreitengrund gradually narrows into the short, winged petiole. The leaf margin is serrated irregularly with blunt teeth.

Inflorescence and flower

The flowering period extends from March to April. The inflorescence stem is extremely short, so up to 25 flowers arise at the base in the middle of the leaf rosette. The bracts are linear, pale and much shorter than the 5 to 10 centimeters long pedicels for a broad base.

The odorless, hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five sepals are cylindrical, adjoining and angular over a length between 12 and 15 millimeters. The linear-triangular calyx teeth are less than half as long as the calyx tube. The edges of the calyx tube are green, all other parts of the calyx are yellowish. The five petals, which are often sulfur yellow, are fused. When the petals dry, they turn green. The corolla tube is slightly longer than the calyx, the throat shows five triangular, orange spots. The flat coronet has a diameter between 2.5 and 3.5 centimeters. The corolla lobes are inverted heart-shaped.

Fruit and seeds

An egg-shaped capsule is formed that is about two thirds as long as the calyx. The seeds measure about 2.5 millimeters in length and are brown in color with a warty surface.

Chromosome number

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 22.

ecology

Heterostyly: on the left the form with a long stylus, on the right the form with a short stylus. 1 = corolla, 2 = calyx, 3 = stamens and 4 = style

Like many land plants, the stemless cowslip lives in symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomeromycetes). The average age of the plants is between 10 and 30 years, but specimens over 48 years old have also been observed. Young individuals bloom for the first time at 20 months of age.

Most (90%) individuals are heterostyle , the minority monostyle . The flowers of the species are visited by a wide variety of insects such as butterflies (Lepidoptera), hymenoptera (Hymenoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), two-winged birds (Diptera) and others. Ultimately, it has not been researched which visitors are pollinators. Good pollinators, however, are said to be bumblebees ( Bombus ) and woolen floaters of the genus Bombylius . The most frequent visitors to the flowers, however, are small beetles of the genus Meligethes - often up to 12 individuals covered over with pollen can be found in a single flower. The beetles also fly from flower to flower and are at least theoretically good pollinators.

The seeds have an elaiosome and are spread by ants (Formicidae) ( myrmecochory ).

The larvae of many butterflies live on the leaves, these are mainly species from the genera Xestia , Noctua , Diarsia and Idaea and others.

The stemless cowslip is attacked by the rust fungus Puccinia primulae . The leaf fungi Ramularia primulae and Septoria primulae have also been identified.

Stemless cowslip ( Primula vulgaris ) in Spain

Occurrence and endangerment

The original distribution area of the stemless cowslip includes western and southern Europe. In the north, the distribution area extends from central Norway via England , Denmark , northern Germany , the Netherlands , Belgium and France to southern Portugal in the south. To the east, the distribution area runs through the southern European peninsulas to the Crimea , Syria , Asia Minor and Armenia . The stemless cowslip reaches Algeria and Morocco and is one of only two primrose species native to Africa, along with Primula simensis in Ethiopia.

The stemless cowslip is considered to be a European-Mediterranean-montane flora element . It is very patchy in Central Europe. Typical natural neighborhoods consist of up to 38 individuals, which occupy up to 30 square meters, larger stands are between 18 and 61 square meters. The stemless cowslip is certainly planted in some places, it easily grows wild.

In Central Europe, the stemless cowslip occurs in Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg, in the Lake Constance area, in the Swiss plateau and on Lake Geneva, as well as in the valleys of the Swiss Northern Alps, in Valais, in Ticino, in Vorarlberg and in Upper and Lower Austria , it occurs there in loose, individual-rich stocks. It rises in the southern chains of the Alps to altitudes of around 1500 meters.

The occurrences in Germany are listed as endangered in the Red List of Threatened Species and designated as particularly protected in the Federal Nature Conservation Act. Frequent to rare occurrences can be found in all Austrian federal states as well as in the Principality of Liechtenstein and South Tyrol , with the populations in Salzburg and Liechtenstein being considered naturalized. The occurrences in the Rhine region , in the northern Alpine foothills and in the areas of the Pannonian Flora Province are considered endangered and are represented in the Red List of Endangered Species in Austria.

The stemless cowslip thrives in fresh, good and somewhat shaded soil. It is found above all by streams, under bushes, in orchards and light, moist deciduous forests. Occasionally it also occurs in meadows. The stemless cowslip thrives best in Central Europe on nutrient-rich, but lime-poor, humus-rich, loose and often stony loam soils in mild winter locations .

Primula vulgaris is a character species of the order Fagetalia in Central Europe , but also occurs in Prunetalia societies or in fresh, lean Arrhenatheretalia societies.

Illustration by Jacob Sturm , 1 = flour primrose ( Primula farinosa ), 2 = stemless cowslip ( Primula vulgaris )

Systematics

Primula vulgaris was first published by William Hudson . A synonym for Primula vulgaris Huds. is Primula acaulis (L.) Hill .

Depending on the author, there are several subspecies , varieties or forms :

  • Primula vulgaris Huds. subsp. vulgaris :
  • Primula vulgaris subsp. atlantica (Maire & Wilczek) Greuter & Burdet. : Like Primula vulgaris subsp. balearica but with shorter flower stalks, occurs in the mountains of Algeria and Morocco.
  • Primula vulgaris subsp. balearica (optional) WWSmith & Forrest. : With fragrant flowers and almost bare leaves, occurs in the mountains of Mallorca.
  • Primula vulgaris subsp. heterochroma (Stapf) WWSmith & Forrest : With blue-violet flowers, occurs on the Caspian Sea.
  • Primula vulgaris subsp. rubra (Sm.) Arcangeli : With purple or red flowers, especially in the east of the distribution area.
  • Primula vulgaris var. Caulescens (Koch) Schinz & Thellung. : With elongated, multi-flowered pedicels.
  • Primula vulgaris f. albiflora Evers : With yellowish-white to pure white flowers.

Primula vulgaris probably evolved from the cowslip ( Primula elatior ) through repeated mutations , with the vital development of the elaiosome and thus the myrmecochory forming an evolutionary advantage.

hybrid

Hybrids of Primula vulgaris in a wide range of colors
Hybrids of Primula vulgaris white and light yellow

The stemless cowslip is an important cultivated plant and the most important cultivated primrose. Hybrids exist in all possible varieties of colors, such as white, yellow and red, or brown and red in all degrees, as well as dark red, rose red, lavender, purple, blackish brown, dark blue. The throat is usually deep yellow in color.

By crossing with the real cowslip ( Primula veris ), hybrids are created which are classified as Primula × polyantha Mill. And stand between the parent species in terms of both morphological and ecological characteristics. Crosses with the cowslip ( Primula elatior ) are also possible and produce stem-bearing, fertile hybrids called Primula × digenea A. Kern . The triple hybrid Primula vulgaris × P. veris × P. elatior also exists, although it is rare; she becomes Primula × murbeckii Lindq. called.

In locations where the occurrence of several of these primrose species overlap, hybrids also naturally form and are difficult to identify.

use

In the past, the stemless cowslip was also used as a medicinal plant. It contains small amounts of saponins , but significantly less than the real cowslip, and was given for colds.

Today the use as an ornamental plant is very important. Hybrids of the stemless cowslip have a market share of 6% of all bedding plants sold in Germany, which corresponds to a market volume of 120 million euros (2008). Worldwide the cultivation area was 1,841,724 hectares.

swell

literature

  • Hans Jacquemyn, Patrick Endels, Rein Brys, Martin Hermy, Stanley RJ Woodell: Biological Flora of the British Isles No. 254: Primula vulgaris Huds. (P. acaulis (L.) Hill) . In: Journal of Ecology . tape 97 , no. 4 , 2009, p. 812-833 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-2745.2009.01513.x (English).
  • Gustav Hegi : Primula vulgaris . In: Illustrated flora of Central Europe . 5, 3rd part. JF Lehmanns, Munich 1926, p. 1743-1746 .
  • Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The flowering plants of Central Europe , Franckh-Kosmos-Verlag, 2nd revised edition 1994, 2000, Volume 3, ISBN 3-440-08048-X

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b R. K. Brummitt, RD Meikle: The correct Latin names for the primrose and the oxlip, Primula vulgaris Hudson and P. elatior (L.) Hill . In: Watsonia . tape 19 , no. 3 , 1969, p. 181-184 (English, PDF file ).
  2. ↑ 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. 736 .
  3. ↑ Peter Zwetko: The rust mushrooms Austria. Supplement and host-parasite directory to the 2nd edition of the Catalogus Florae Austriae, III. Part, Book 1, Uredinales. (PDF; 1.8 MB).
  4. ↑ Cybertruffle's Robigalia, Observations of fungi and their associated organisms ( Memento of the original from September 20, 2011 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 notice. accessed on April 15, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cybertruffle.org.uk
  5. ↑ CM Cahalan, C. Gliddon: Genetic neighborhood sizes in Primula vulgaris . In: Heredity . tape 54 , no. 1 February 1985, ISSN  0018-067X , p. 65–70 , doi : 10.1038 / hdy.1985.9 (English).
  6. ↑ Primula vulgaris Huds., Shankless Primrose. In: FloraWeb.de. Last accessed January 15, 2015 with distribution map for Germany Distribution map for Germany. In: Floraweb . and hazard and protection information online.
  7. ^ Manfred A. Fischer, Karl Oswald, Wolfgang Adler: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 3rd, improved edition. Province of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2008, ISBN 978-3-85474-187-9 , p. 685 .
  8. ^ R. Miller Christy: Primula vulgaris var. Caulescens . In: New Phytologist . tape 22 , no. 5 , December 1923, p. 233-239 , JSTOR : 2427682 (English).
  9. ↑ A. Kerner: The Primulaceen Bastarte of the Alps . In: Austrian Botanical Journal . tape 25 , no. 3 , 1875, p. 77-82 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01614605 .
  10. ^ SRJ Woodell: Natural Hybridization in Britain between Primula vulgaris Huds. (the primrose) and P. elatior (L.) Hill (the oxlip) . In: Watsonia . tape 7 , no. 3 , 1969, p. 115–127 (English, PDF file ).
  11. ^ Richard Niehues: The most important plants in green retail . In: DEGA Production & Trade . 2009 ( PDF file ).
  12. ↑ International Trade Center UNCTAD / WTO (Ed.): Overview of World Production and Marketing of Organic Wild Collected Products . MDS-07-139.E. Geneva 2007 (English, PDF file ).

Web links

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This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on March 2, 2010 .