Stiff sedge

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Stiff sedge
Stiff sedge (Carex elata), Bulte

Stiff sedge ( Carex elata ), Bulte

Systematics
Monocots
Commelinids
Order : Sweet grass (Poales)
Family : Sourgrass family (Cyperaceae)
Genre : Sedges ( Carex )
Type : Stiff sedge
Scientific name
Carex elata
Alles.

The stiff sedge ( Carex elata ), also known as the stiff sedge, is a species of plant within the sour grass family (Cyperaceae). It is common in Eurasia and North Africa.

description

Inflorescences
Inflorescences of the stiff sedge in Upper Austria
Steifseggenried

Vegetative characteristics

The stiff sedge grows as a deciduous, perennial herbaceous plant . The height of growth is between 60 and 120 centimeters in the subspecies Carex elata subsp. elata or 30 to 80 centimeters for Carex elata subsp. omskiana . Without runners they form dense lawns up to stately, storied clumps ( bultes ). The stiff, upright stems are sharp, triangular and rough at the top. They are only leafed at the bottom. The lowest leaf sheaths , which fray like a network, are light yellow-brown. The flat, gray-green leaf blades of the broad-leaved stiff sedge reach 4 to 7 millimeters, those of the narrow-leaved stiff sedge 2 to 5 millimeters wide. They are very rough around the edges. The leaf tops are grass to dark green; the undersides of the leaves are gray-green. The papillae are elongated triangular in the broad-leaved subspecies and protrude clearly from the epidermis. In the narrow-leaved subspecies, these are rounded and only slightly triangular.

Generative characteristics

The flowering period extends from April to May. The lowest bract of the inflorescence is usually sub- like and at most as long as this. The inflorescence consists of three to six, sometimes seven, sessile to short-stalked, upright ears . The upper one to three ears bear male, the lower very densely standing female flowers. The male flowers bear three stamens , the female one zweinarbigen ovary . The beaked, five- to seven-veined ( Carex elata subsp. Elata ) or indistinctly annoyed ( Carex elata subsp. Omskiana ) fruit sacs are oval, very flattened and gray-green. They are 3.5 to 5 millimeters long and about 2 millimeters wide. The yellow-brown fruit is lenticular and about 2 millimeters long and 1.5 millimeters wide. The husks are black-brown and keeled green. They reach 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters in length. The tips are at Carex elata subsp. elata rounded, in Carex elata subsp. omskiana, on the other hand, is always clearly pointed.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 74, 76, 78 or 80.

ecology

The stiff sedge is a marsh plant, silting plant, a helophyte . It is a hemicryptophyte in which the renewal buds located near the surface sprout in early spring. The sharp edge of the leaf serves as protection against animal damage.

Flowering time is from mid-April to June.

The fruits ripen relatively quickly, they can fall out from the end of May.

The utriculi are subject to swimming expansion; their swimming duration can be over 15 months. In addition, Velcro spread and adhesion spread by water birds.

Occurrence

The stiff sedge is widespread in all of Europe with the exception of the extreme north and as far as Central Asia from the plains to the middle mountain ranges . Overall, it is rare in Central Europe, but mostly occurs in large populations where it is found. It hardly rises above 1500 m in the mountains. In the Allgäu Alps it occurs up to 1200 meters above sea level.

It grows in damp and wet meadows , intermediate moors , in silting zones of standing and slowly flowing water on waterlogged, nutrient- and base-rich clay and silt soils . She avoids cold waters. Often it forms mass populations that essentially only consist of this one species, so-called Steifseggenriede (Caricetum elatae). In silting areas of lakes and slowly flowing streams, this type of sedge is often noticeable for its stately, storied clumps ( Bulte or Bülte ). It colonizes water depths of up to 0.5 m with individual specimens and becomes dominant inland. As a deep-rooter, it contributes to the silting up of waters.

The French common name of the stiff sedge, le grand carex , gave its name to the largest wetland in Switzerland , the Grande Cariçaie .

Systematics

According to WCSP, two subspecies are distinguished. The subspecies differ mainly in the height of growth, the width of the leaves , the shape of the husks and the shape of the papillae on the underside of the leaves:

  • The broad-leaved stiff sedge ( Carex elata subsp. Elata ): It occurs from Europe to Iran.
  • The smaller narrow-leaved stiff sedge ( Carex elata subsp. Omskiana ( Meinsh. ) Jalas ). It has been proven for Germany since 1997 (Berlin / Brandenburg) and may have been overlooked so far. It occurs from Europe to Central Asia.

use

The stiff sedge is a good litter plant , but a bad fodder plant .

Common names

The other German-language trivial names exist or existed for the stiff sedge, sometimes only regionally : Bültengras ( Schleswig-Holstein ), Buttengras ( Unterweser ), Grauwisk ( Bremen ), Groffwisk (Bremen) and Schnittbülten (Schleswig-Holstein).

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ 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. 183 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Carex elata. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  3. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 256.
  4. ↑ Grande Cariçaie
  5. ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, p. 82 ( online ).

literature

  • 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 .
  • Henning Haeupler, Thomas Muer: picture atlas of the fern and flowering plants of Germany . Ed .: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (=  The fern and flowering plants of Germany . Volume 2 ). Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3364-4 .
  • Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora . With the collaboration of Theo Müller. 7th, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1994, ISBN 3-8252-1828-7 .
  • Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait . 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 .
  • Karl Kiffe: A Carex Sect clan that was previously overlooked in Germany. Phacocystis (Cyperaceae) in Germany: Carex elata subsp. omskiana. In: Floristische Rundbriefe Volume 32, No. 2, 1999, pp. 117–122.
  • Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The flowering plants of Central Europe . 2nd Edition. tape 5 : Swan flowers to duckweed plants . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08048-X .

Web links

Commons : Stiff Sedge  album with pictures, videos and audio files

Photos: