White cinquefoil

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White cinquefoil
White cinquefoil (Potentilla alba)

White cinquefoil ( Potentilla alba )

Systematics
Eurosiden I
Order : Rose-like (rosales)
Family : Rose family (Rosaceae)
Subfamily : Rosoideae
Genre : Finger herbs ( potentilla )
Type : White cinquefoil
Scientific name
Potentilla alba
L.

The White cinquefoil ( Potentilla alba ) is a species from the genus of Potentilla ( Potentilla ) in the family of the rose family (Rosaceae). Potentilla alba was first described by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum in 1753 .

Appearance

Illustration of the white cinquefoil ( Potentilla alba )

The white cinquefoil is a perennial herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 10 to 20 cm. The thin, often loosely bent stems are only about 5 to 8 cm long and are clearly surmounted by the rosette leaves. The stalked leaves are up to 20 cm long, finger-shaped and inverted five-lanceolate, at the top sawn something long 2 to 10 cm and about 2 cm wide leaflets composed. The leaflets are hairy white and silky underneath, as well as on the edge and on the stem, on the upper side they are dark green and almost glabrous. There are often only two or three stem leaves; they are short-stalked to sessile, three to five-part fingered, or there is only one leaf left. The stipules have a 1 to 2 cm long, very pointed, closely hairy auricle.

The arm- flowered (one to five flowers), loosely trugdoldige inflorescence is 5 to 15 cm long. The long-stalked flowers have a diameter of about 15 to 25 mm. The outer sepals are very pointed, slightly shorter than the 7 to 10 mm long sepals, which are also pointed . The obverse heart-shaped petals are white and 6 to 12 mm long. There are 20 stamens with white, bare stamens. The white cinquefoil blooms from April to June, rarely again in September.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 28.

Location claims and distribution

White cinquefoil ( Potentilla alba )

The white cinquefoil is a European-continental floral element. The area includes Eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe up to the Volga. The northern border crosses northern Germany. The species is absent in Fennoscandia and the British Isles. The western border runs in the Vosges and Ardennes. In the south, the border runs through northern Italy, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria via the Ukraine to the central Volga.

The white cinquefoil is absent-minded and seldom found only in the middle and south of Germany.

The white cinquefoil grows on dry to alternately moist, nutrient-poor, sandy to clayey soils. Above all, it prefers light oak and pine forests, fringes at the edges of the forest and rough meadows. It is a character species of the Potentillo-Quercetum, but also occurs in societies of the Geranion sanguinei association.

The species is a relic from the time before the intensification of agriculture and forestry, which began in the 19th century. The stocks of the white cinquefoil have been decreasing significantly for a long time.

Species protection

Endangerment in Germany: Category 3: endangered!

literature

Individual evidence

  1. p. 498
  2. a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 537.

Web links

Commons : White cinquefoil ( Potentilla alba )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files