Forest hornwort

Forest hornwort
left common hornwort ( Cerastium fontanum subsp. vulgare ); right hornwort ( Cerastium sylvaticum )
Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales) Family : Carnation family (Caryophyllaceae) Subfamily : Alsinoideae Genre : Horn herbs ( Cerastium ) Type : Forest hornwort
Scientific name
Cerastium sylvaticum
Waldst. & Kit.

The forest hornwort ( Cerastium sylvaticum ) is a species of the genus hornwort ( Cerastium ) within the carnation family (Caryophyllaceae).

description

The hornwort is an annual to perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 15 to 70 centimeters. The stem is prostrate-creeping (and then rooting) or loosely ascending and somewhat climbing. The lower leaves are 10 to 15 millimeters wide, spatulate, long stalked, soft and scattered hairy, the upper leaves are opposite, up to 5 centimeters long and up to 1 centimeter wide.

The flowering period extends from June to July. The inflorescence is a sparsely branched, many-flowered dichasium with rather long pedicels. The lower bracts are large, foliage and quite herbaceous. The flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five sepals are 3 to 6 millimeters long, membranous on the edge and glandular hairy on the outside. The five free white petals are heart-shaped notched up to half their length or deeper and form a corolla with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 centimeters when spread out.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 36.

Occurrence

There are no known locations of the hornwort in Central Europe. It is interesting that it penetrates south of the Alps to northern and central Italy. In terms of its climatic requirements, it could well populate enough places in Central Europe. Why this has not yet happened is unknown. There are no known tendencies to spread to the west for this species.

It occurs rarely in Upper Austria , but is scattered in the other federal states of Austria . It rises in the Alps to altitudes of around 1000 meters. It populates in Eastern Europe (from the Ukraine to the Baltic States and in the northern parts of the Balkan Peninsula ) forests and bushes as well as banks and peat quarries. The hornwort thrives best on humus forest or peat soils that should be permanently moist.

photos

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  Habitus

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  Stems with leaves

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  inflorescence

literature

• Otto Schmeil , Jost Fitschen (greeting), Siegmund Seybold: The flora of Germany and the neighboring countries. A book for identifying all wild and frequently cultivated vascular plants. 95th completely revised u. exp. Edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01498-2 .
• Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The flowering plants of Central Europe . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : Yew family to butterfly family . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08048-X .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cerastium sylvaticum at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis

Web links

• Data sheet with photo.
• Images: [1] , [2] , [3] , [4]