Germander Speedwell

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Germander Speedwell
Germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)

Germander speedwell ( Veronica chamaedrys )

Systematics
Euasterids I
Order : Mint family (Lamiales)
Family : Plantain family (Plantaginaceae)
Tribe : Veroniceae
Genre : Speedwell ( Veronica )
Type : Germander Speedwell
Scientific name
Veronica chamaedrys
L.

The germander speedwell ( Veronica chamaedrys ), also lobelia, woman bite, Katzenäuglein or Wildes Vergissmeinnicht called, is a flowering plant in the family of Plantain Family (Plantaginaceae).

description

illustration
The stem has two opposite rows of hairs.
Exterior view of a flower of Veronica chamaedrys subsp. chamaedrys : the sepals are only loosely hairy.

Vegetative characteristics

The germander speedwell grows as a perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 10 to 30 centimeters. Its “ root system ” consists essentially of sprouted roots. On the prostrate or rising, round stem . Two opposing white shaggy hairlines ( trichomes ) run down each internode . They arise at the nodes between the base of both leaves.

The opposite leaves are sitting. The leaf blade is heart-ovoid, ovoid or broadly elliptical with a length of 2 to 3 centimeters and a width of 1 to 3 centimeters. The upper side of the leaf is usually almost bare and the underside of the leaf is mainly hairy on the nerves and on the edge. The leaf margin is more or less deep, often irregularly notched or serrated; the teeth are blunt to rounded.

Generative characteristics

The flowering period is between April and July. About 10 to 20 flowers are grouped together in lateral, racemose inflorescences . The bracts are elongated-lanceolate. The glandular, short-haired flower stalk is more or less upright and 4 to 6 millimeters long.

The hermaphrodite flowers are four-fold with a double flower envelope . Of the four finely haired, elongated-lanceolate sepals , the front ones are slightly larger than the rear ones. The four sky blue and darker veined petals are somewhat unequal, so the 10 to 14 millimeter wide corolla is zygomorphic . The throat and the corolla tube are white. The stamens and anthers of the two stamens are blue.

The two-lobed capsule fruit is triangular-heart-shaped. The styles are blue, as long as the fruit and thicken slightly towards the tip. The scar is whitish. The seeds are bowl-shaped and about 1 millimeter long.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 16 or 32.

Color variant of the germander honorary award
Germander speedwell ( Veronica chamaedrys )

ecology

The germander speedwell is an herbaceous chamaephyte that often grows grassy. The light germ, which is demanding in terms of nutrients, is a shallow root . Vegetative reproduction occurs through underground runners .

On the stem one often finds spherical, felt-like swellings ( galls ). They are caused by the larvae of the gall mosquito Jaapiella veronicae , which feed in the galls.

The germander speedwell only develops flowers in sunny locations . If it is in partial shade, it remains sterile. From an ecological point of view, these are homogeneous "nectar-bearing disc flowers". The nectar is covered by a wreath of hair. The protruding stylus , the two stamens and the lower petal serve as an approach point for the insects. The insects are guided to the nectar through the sap marks (dark line marks and white ring marks) and pollinate the flowers, which open between 7 and 9 a.m. and close again around 6 p.m. As pollinators are: flies , bees and small butterflies .

The capsule fruits open when wet and release the seeds. The seeds are raindrop wanderers (rain ballist and rain swamp), plus wind spreaders; There is also spread by chance and by ants.

Occurrence

The distribution area of Veronica chamaedrys includes Europe, the Azores and Madeira and extends in Asia to Siberia , the Altai and Fengcheng Xian in the Chinese province of Liaoning . The germander honorary award is widespread in large parts of Europe with a focus on the western regions. In North America and Argentina it is a neophyte .

Frequent locations in Central Europe are fringes of hedges and bushes, meadows, road borders, forest edges, light dry forests up to an altitude of 2200 meters. It grows from fresh, nutrient-rich clay soils . He is in Central Europe, a characteristic species of the orders Arrhenatheretalia and Glechometalia.

Systematics

Both Theophrastus and Dioscurides called the noble germander ( Teucrium chamaedrys ), also known as the “Great Germander”, “χαμαί-δρυς” ( chamai-dry s = floor oak) because its leaves are similar to those of the oak. Since the leaves of the Germander Speedwell, which is also called "Little Gamander", also resemble oak leaves, the name chamaedrys was also adopted for this plant species before Linnaeus . The German word "Gamander" also developed from chamaedrys - chamandrys - Middle Latin chamandros - gamandre. The first publication of Veronica chamaedrys was by Carl von Linné .

By Veronica chamaedrys there are about four subspecies:

  • Actual germander speedwell ( Veronica chamaedrys L. subsp. Chamaedrys ) with deep green, usually not shiny leaves. Tetraploid (chromosome number 2n = 32). It occurs in Central Europe in societies of the Trifolion medii association, but also in those of the order Arrhenatheretalia or Glechometalia. In the Allgäu Alps, it rises between Bärenkopf and Kiechele in Vorarlberg to an altitude of 1950 meters.
  • Veronica chamaedrys subsp. chamaedryoides (Bory & Chaub.) MAFish. (Syn .: Veronica chamaedryoides Bory & Chaub. ): It occurs in Greece.
  • Gloss Veronica Chamaedrys ( Veronica chamaedrys subsp. Micans M.A.Fisch. ) With bright green, often slightly glossy foliage leaves. Diploid , (chromosome number 2n = 16). Location from upper montane to subalpine, especially in the northern limestone Alps . It is a type of the Caricion ferrugineae or the Adenostylion societies. It rises in the Ammergau up to an altitude of 1150 meters, in the Allgäu Alps in the Tyrolean part between Hahnenkamm and Gaichtspitze up to 1910 meters.
  • Glandular germander speedwell ( Veronica chamaedrys subsp. Vindobonensis M.A.Fisch. ): Is also regarded by some authors as a separate species: Veronica vindobonensis (MAFisch.) MAFisch. It occurs in Central Europe, in South and Southeast Europe and in the Middle East.

ingredients

The plant parts contain the anti-inflammatory aucubin .

Popular belief

In the vernacular, the frequently occurring blue germander speedwell is also called storm flowers, as it was believed that it either blooms more frequently in thunderstorm years or that its picking causes rain or thunderstorms.

Others

The botanist Leonhart Fuchs must have had a special relationship with the germander honorary award. He calls this plant species "Gamenderle". A portrait of him from the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart from 1541 shows him with this plant in his hands. A preliminary drawing from the copy of the herb book in the Ulm City Library, which presumably came from Heinrich Füllmaurer , shows him with this plant.

literature

  • Manfred A. Fischer , Karl Oswald, Wolfgang Adler: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol. 3rd, improved edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2008, ISBN 978-3-85474-187-9 .
  • Margot Spohn, Marianne Golte-Bechtle: What is blooming there? The encyclopedia: over 1000 flowering plants from Central Europe. Kosmos, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-440-10326-9 .
  • Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany. A botanical-ecological excursion companion to the most important species. 6th, completely revised edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2005, ISBN 3-494-01397-7 .
  • Rudi Beiser: Our edible wild plants. Kosmos-Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-440-13605-8 .
  • Heinrich Marzell : Dictionary of German plant names. 5 volumes, Leipzig, from volume 3 Stuttgart / Wiesbaden, volume IV, p. 1065.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Dimitri Hartl: Scrophulariaceae. In: Dimitri Hartl, Gerhard Wagenitz (Hrsg.): Illustrated flora of Central Europe. Pteridophyta, Spermatophyta . Founded by Gustav Hegi. 2nd, completely revised edition. Volume VI. Part 1: Angiospermae: Dicotyledones 4 (1) (Scrophulariaceae - Plantaginaceae) . Carl Hanser and Paul Parey, Munich and Berlin / Hamburg 1974, ISBN 3-446-10471-2 , pp. 212–215 (published in deliveries 1965–1974).
  2. ↑ a b c d 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. 843-844 .
  3. ↑ Hong De-Yuan , Manfred A. Fischer: Veronica chamaedrys. In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven (Ed.): Flora of China. Volume 18: Scrophulariaceae through Gesneriaceae. Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis 1998, ISBN 0-915279-55-X , p. 74.
  4. ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Birkhäuser, Basel / Boston / Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-7643-2390-6 , pp. 145-146.
  5. ↑ Friedhelm Sauerhoff: Plant names in comparison. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07857-6 , p. 206.
  6. ↑ a b c d Karol Marhold: Scrophulariaceae : data sheet Veronica L. In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. 2011.
  7. ↑ a b Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 2, IHW, Eching 2004, ISBN 3-930167-61-1 , p. 449.
  8. ^ Frederick G. Meyer, EE Trueblood, JL Heller: The Great Herbal of Leonhart Fuchs. Volume 1, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California 1999, ISBN 0-8047-1631-5 , plate 37.
  9. ↑ B. Baumann et al.: The herb book manuscript of Leonhart Fuchs. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3538-8 , pp. 143-144.

Web links

Commons : Germander Speedwell ( Veronica chamaedrys )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files