Winter horsetail

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Winter horsetail
Winter horsetail (Equisetum hyemale)

Winter horsetail ( Equisetum hyemale )

Systematics
Ferns
Class : Equisetopsida
Order : Horsetail (Equisetales)
Family : Horsetail Family (Equisetaceae)
Genre : Horsetail ( Equisetum )
Type : Winter horsetail
Scientific name
Equisetum hyemale
L.
Winter horsetail ( Equisetum hyemale )

The winter horsetail ( Equisetum hyemale ) is a species of horsetail ( Equisetum ).

features

The winter horsetail is an evergreen chamaephyte . The hard, rough, mostly unbranched shoots reach a height of up to 130 cm and a diameter of 5 to 10 mm; the diameter of the central cavity takes about 2/3 of the stem diameter. Spiked and sterile shoots do not differ; both are dark green and usually without side branches. The stem sheaths are tight fitting and up to 8 mm long with early falling teeth. The rungs have 15 to 25 ribs; each rib has two edges with a shallow depression between them. The up to 18 mm long ear ends in a small tip; the spores are formed from June to August.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 216.

Distribution and location

The winter horsetail is circumpolar and northern Eurasian to sub-Mediterranean and common in North America. In Germany and neighboring areas the species is widespread to rare. In some German federal states it is considered to be endangered or severely endangered.

The winter horsetail often occurs in large stocks in alluvial forests, spring moors, bushes and on forest fringes that are characterized by groundwater or seepage water and are often alternately humid. It prefers nutrient-rich and base-rich, mild to moderately acidic loam and clay soils ( gley soils ) and is a deep-rooted water train pointer. It occurs in the planar to colline altitude range , but also reaches heights of up to 800 m in the Black Forest and up to 1370 m in the Alps. In the Allgäu Alps, it rises in the Kleiner Walsertal in the lower Bärgunttal southwest of Baad up to 1250 m above sea level.

According to Ellenberg , the winter horsetail is a half-light plant and a moderate heat pointer that is intermediate continentally distributed. It is also a moisture pointer, a weak acid to weak base pointer and a federation character of the alder and noble deciduous floodplain forests (Alno-Ulmion).

Systematics

Two subspecies can be distinguished:

  • Equisetum hyemale subsp. affine (Engelm.) Calder & Roy L. Taylor : It occurs in North America from Alaska to El Salvador and Guatemala.
  • Equisetum hyemale subsp. hyemale : It occurs in Europe and Asia.

hybrid

The winter horsetail hybridizes with other species of the subgenus Equisetum subgen. Hippochaete , resulting in the following hybrids:

  • Ascending horsetail ( Equisetum × ascendens Lubienski & Bennert ) = Equisetum hyemale × Equisetum ramosissimum × Equisetum hyemale .
  • Geissert's horsetail ( Equisetum × geissertii Lubienski & Bennert ) = Equisetum hyemale × Equisetum ramosissimum × Equisetum variegatum .
  • Moore's horsetail ( Equisetum × moorei Newman ) = Equisetum hyemale × Equisetum ramosissimum
  • Rough horsetail ( Equisetum × trachydon A.Braun ) = Equisetum hyemale × Equisetum variegatum
  • Equisetum × ferrissii Clute = Equisetum hyemale × Equisetum laevigatum

use

The Latvian folk medicine uses Equisetum hiemale for ascites , the Mongolian medicine as sweaty and against an "eye umbrella disease". Due to the contained alkaloid palustrine, along with other accompanying alkaloids, it is considered to be poisonous. Only Equisetum arvense is used medicinally .

Before the invention of sandpaper in the 19th century, the winter horsetail was used in wood carving for the final smoothing of wooden surfaces. The American sculptor David Esterly was able to prove this in carvings by the baroque sculptor Grinling Gibbons when he was commissioned with the reconstruction of carvings that were lost in the fire at Hampton Court Palace in 1986. Due to the structure of their stems, they leave specific notches that were detectable on the carvings. Other sculptors who are certain that they used the winter horsetail in a similar way are Michel Erhart , Veit Stoss and Tilman Riemenschneider .

For some years now, winter horsetail has been used in nurseries for dry bouquets ("snake grass"). The species is also used as an ornamental plant on garden ponds.

Common names

The following German-language common names exist or existed for the winter horsetail : Polirkannenkraut, Polirschachtelhalm, great horsetail, carpenter's horsetail and winter stalk.

literature

  • Jäger, EJ & K. Werner: Excursion flora from Germany / greeted by Werner Rothmaler. Volume 4: Vascular Plants: Critical Volume . 9th edition, Spektrum, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-8274-0917-9
  • Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition, Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, page 64. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5
  • Heinz Ellenberg : Vegetation of Central Europe with the Alps from an ecological, dynamic and historical perspective. 5th, heavily changed and improved edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-8001-2696-6 .
  • Römpp: Lexikon Naturstoffe, Georg Thieme Verlag 1997, ISBN 3-13-749901-1
  • Roth / Daunderer / Kormann: Poisonous plants, plant poisons . 4th edition.
  • 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 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Oskar Sebald, Siegmund Seybold, Georg Philippi: The fern and flowering plants of Baden-Württemberg . Vol. 1, 1993
  2. ↑ a b c Marcus Lubienski: The horsetail (Equisetaceae, Pteridophyta) of the flora of Germany - an updated identification key. Yearbook of the Bochum Botanical Association. Vol. 2, 2011, pp. 68–86 ( PDF 6.7 MB)
  3. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 103.
  4. ↑ a b c Equisetum in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  5. ^ Gerhard Madaus: Textbook of biological remedies. Volume II. Olms, Hildesheim / New York 1976, ISBN 3-487-05891-X , pp. 1272, 1273 (reprint of the Leipzig 1938 edition).
  6. ^ David Esterly: The Lost Carving - A Journey to the Heart of Making . London 2013, ISBN 978-0-7156-4649-6 . Chapter VIII: Meaning isn't the Meaning
  7. ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, page 141. ( online ).

Web links

Images: Winter horsetail ( Memento from July 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) [1] [2] [3]

Commons : Winter Horsetail  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files