Forest ledges

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Forest ledges
Forest ledge (Scirpus sylvaticus)

Forest ledge ( Scirpus sylvaticus )

Systematics
Monocots
Commelinids
Order : Sweet grass (Poales)
Family : Sourgrass family (Cyperaceae)
Genre : Ledges ( Scirpus )
Type : Forest ledges
Scientific name
Scirpus sylvaticus
L.

The forest ledge ( Scirpus sylvaticus ) is a species of the genus Simsen ( Scirpus ) within the family of the sour grass plants (Cyperaceae). It is widespread in Europe.

Description and phenology

Illustration from Flora Batava , Volume 15
Inflorescence from above
Flower / fruit (right) and corresponding wrapper (left). The black to brown-green bract is keeled and has a spike tip. At the base of the ovary there are 6 perigone bristles with hooks pointing downwards. The flower has three stigmas.

The forest ledge is a perennial plant that reaches heights of about 30 to 100 centimeters. Subterranean runners emanate from their rhizome . The rigidly upright, knotless stalk is hollow, bluntly triangular and leafed up to the top. The grass-like, simple leaf blades are yellow-green to brown, 6 to 16 millimeters wide and rather flat in cross-section (slightly coagulated in the middle); at the top they are triangular. Their edge and median nerve are rough.

The flowering period extends from May to August. The stem terminates in an inflorescence in the form of a loose, up to about 20 centimeters wide, with one to three bracts provided Spirre , the blackish-green from several hundred, ovoid spikelets consists. These 3 to 4 millimeter long spikelets are arranged like two to nine heads or are individually at the end of the spiral branches. The hermaphrodite flowers are threefold.

The fruits (nuts) are yellowish white and about 1 millimeter long, elliptical with a short tip. Fruit ripens in August.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 62 or 64.

ecology

The forest ledge is a grass-forming rhizome geophyte or a marsh plant . Vegetative reproduction takes place through branching of the rhizomes. A seasonal very late mowing harm the plant, because then freeze the buds at their foothills. The rhizomes serve as storage organs for starch . In spring, these reserve substances allow them to be expelled quickly. Forest ledges are very deeply rooted and are also able to develop soil that is poor in air. They are helped by a system of ventilation channels that run through the leaves between the leaf veins.

In terms of flower ecology, it is a wind- flowering species of the "long-dust thread type".

The nut fruits have rough perigone bristles, which serve as an adherent organ for Velcro to spread through marsh and water birds. They may also be helpful for wind propagation . In addition, processing is spread by small birds.

Occurrence

The forest ledge occurs from Europe to Central Asia. In Europe it has a closed distribution in the Baltic Sea region up to about 63 ° north latitude. It is absent in Iceland and southern Europe. In Germany only local distribution gaps in the Alps up to altitudes of 1300 meters are given.

It occurs from the plains to the pre-alpine region. It rises in the Alps to altitudes of 1500 meters. In the Allgäu Alps, too, it rises up to 1500 meters above sea level on the Alte Piesen-Alpe near Rohrmoos in Bavaria . It colonizes nutrient-rich swamps and fens , swelling clay soils , wet meadows and ditch edges as well as alluvial and swamp forests . In wet litter meadows, it settles in the wettest places. Often it occurs in Central Europe at its locations mostly only in smaller, rarely also in larger and then usually in loose stocks. The forest ledge thrives best on well-ventilated, wet, cool and rather acidic soils . It is a character species of the Scirpetum sylvatici from the Calthion association, but also occurs in companies of the Alno-Ulmion association.

Where there are wet meadows with stands of forest ledges, they have to be driven away through intensive grazing . Although it is hardly eaten by the cattle , it can withstand being kicked and probably also nitrogen input from repeated droppings so badly that it usually dies. On grazed swamp meadows , the forest ledges are therefore almost only found in the drainage ditches.

use

The forest ledge was often used as a wicker material in the past. Its use as fodder has also been handed down.

literature

  • Henning Haeupler , Thomas Muer: picture atlas of the fern and flowering plants of Germany (= the fern and flowering plants of Germany. Volume 2). Published by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3364-4 .
  • Elfrune Wendelberger: Plants of the wetlands. - BLV-Intensivführer, Munich, 1986. ISBN 3-405-12967-2

Individual evidence

  1. ^ 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 .
  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.  163 .
  3. ↑ a b c 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 .
  4. ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Scirpus sylvaticus. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  5. ↑ a b c d Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The flowering plants of Central Europe. 2nd Edition. Volume 5: Swan flowers to duckweed plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08048-X .
  6. ↑ a b c d Oskar Sebald, Siegmund Seybold, Georg Philippi, Arno Wörz (ed.): The fern and flowering plants of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 8: Special part (Spermatophyta, subclasses Commelinidae part 2, Arecidae, Liliidae part 2): Juncaceae to Orchidaceae. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8001-3359-8 .
  7. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 232.
  8. ↑ August Mieler: Sämpsykkä - sääs (i) k In : Finnisch-Uugrische Forschungen , Volume 10, 1910, p. 43. online.

Web links

Commons : Wald-Simse  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files