Square shed heather
| Square shed heather | ||||||||||||
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Blooming square heather ( Cassiope tetragona ) on Svalbard |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Cassiope tetragona | ||||||||||||
| ( L. ) D.Don |
The Cassiope tetragona ( Cassiope tetragona ), also cypress shed Heide , four-edged Moor Heide , four-edged Cassiope , lily of the valley Heide or square Heide called, is a plant of the genus shed Heiden ( Cassiope ) within the family of Ericaceae (Ericaceae). It is a typical species of the high Arctic .
description
Vegetative characteristics
The square shed heather grows as an evergreen dwarf shrub and reaches heights of 10 to 30 centimeters. The long branches are heavily branched. The fibrous roots arise from the branches lying down . Its small, evergreen, leather-like, pointed leaves sit close together in four distinct rows, which makes the twigs appear square. The whole-margined leaves are curled outwards. All parts of the plant have a strong smell.
Generative characteristics
The flowers stand individually in the leaf axils on long, reddish flower stalks; sometimes a two-flowered inflorescence also arises at the end of the branch. The hermaphroditic, five-fold flowers have a length and a diameter of 5 to 15 millimeters. The five free, initially green, then red and later reddish-brown sepals have a length of 2 to 3 millimeters and a width of 1.2 to 2 millimeters; they also surround the fruit. The five white to yellowish petals are fused into a five-lobed bell. At the base of the flower there are nectar glands . There are ten stamens . The initially reddish, later yellow anthers are 0.6 to 0.8 millimeters long and have two horns. The five carpels have become a top permanent ovary grown with many ovules .
The fruit stalk is 10 to 40 millimeters long. The capsule fruit, which is brown to reddish when ripe, is almost spherical and has a diameter of 2.5 to 4 millimeters. It opens with five teeth and releases a multitude of seeds when ripe. The yellowish or brown seeds are 0.35 to 0.45 millimeters long.
Chromosome number
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 26.
Occurrence
This arctic - alpine species is circumpolar in the northern hemisphere . It forms extensive heaths mainly on dry, but also on moist subsoil. In winter the plants need a good cover of snow to protect them from the cold temperatures, but this disappears in spring before the snow cover of the snow valleys. During the growing season, the site, which can be found both on plains and on slopes, never dries out completely. While the Vierkantige Schuppenheide in Scandinavia predominantly colonizes calcareous soils , in the Arctic it is not bound to limestone.
Systematics
It was first published in 1753 under the name ( Basionym ) Andromeda tetragona by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum , p. 393. The new combination to Cassiope tetragona (L.) D.Don was made in 1834 by David Don in Edinburgh New Philos. Published Journal , Volume 17, p. 158.
There are two partially sympatric subspecies:
- Cassiope tetragona (L.) D. Don subsp. tetragona : It occurs in the arctic regions.
- Cassiope tetragona subsp. saximontana (Small) AEPorsild : It occurs further south in the northern North American Cordilleras . It has only very short flower / fruit stalks and the leaf shape differs somewhat from the nominate shape .
use
Since other wood is missing in large parts of the distribution area, Cassiope tetragona subsp. tetragona used by the Eskimos as firewood.
literature
- TW Böcher, K. Holmen, K. Jakobsen: Grönlands Flora , 2nd edition P. Haase & Söns, Copenhagen 1966.
- E. Lindner, K. Meister: The small Spitzbergen flora: portraits of interesting plants of the archipelago , 2006, ISBN 3-8334-5132-7 .
- SG Aiken, MJ Dallwitz, LL Consaul, CL McJannet, LJ Gillespie, RL Boles, GW Argus, JM Gillett, PJ Scott, R. Elven, MC LeBlanc, AK Brysting, H. Solstad: in Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago by DELTA : Data sheet from Cassiope tetragona . (Section description)
Individual evidence
- ^ Cassiope tetragona at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
Web links
- Description in The Virtual Floran (Swedish)
- Distribution in the northern hemisphere according to Eric Hultén
- Characteristics.
