Lemon bush
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Lemon bush ( Aloysia citrodora ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Aloysia citrodora | ||||||||||||
| Palau |
The lemon verbena ( Aloysia citrodora ) and lemon scent shrub , lemon verbena or scented verbena - French verveine odorante - called, is a plant from the family of the iron herb plants (Verbenaceae).
description
Vegetative characteristics
The lemon bush originally grows as a perennial deciduous shrub in South America and in temperate climates in Europe it reaches heights of around 2 meters, rarely more.
The elongated leaves, each standing in threes in whorls on the stem , have a strong scent (especially if injured) and are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The petiole is 2 to 10 millimeters short. The simple, shiny leaf blade is rarely 30 to, usually 45 to 110 millimeters long and rarely 7 to, usually 9 to 25 millimeters wide.
Generative characteristics
The tiny whitish flowers are spiky in panicles on up to 25 cm long, woolly hairy inflorescence stem with bracts . The very short stalked flowers are zygomorphic , hermaphroditic and have a double flower envelope ( perianth ). The four approximately 3.5 millimeter long sepals are fused tubular, with the calyx teeth only a quarter of the total length. The four white to light purple-colored, 3.5 to 5.5 millimeter long petals are fused together to form a 2.5 to 3.7 millimeter long tube. There is only a circle of four stamens that have grown together with the corolla tube . The stamens are 0.2 to 0.4 millimeters long. Two carpels have become a top permanent ovary grown, the hairy intense.
The fruits disintegrate into oblong, plano-convex and pointed 1.3 to 1.8 millimeters × 0.5 to 0.6 millimeters small, chestnut brown partial fruits.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 36.
Systematics
The lemon bush was named and first described as Aloysia citrodora in 1784 by Antonio Palau y Verdera (in Parte práct. Bot. , 1, p. 768). The genus Aloysia - the lemon bushes , which includes not only Aloysia citrodora include more than 40 other subtropical species - is one such as the genus Verbena - the iron herb , which includes both Real vervain ( Verbena officinalis count) over 70 other plant species - and other plant species of the family of the iron herb plants ( Verbenaceae ) and, as a mint, is not closely related to citrus plants , such as the lemon tree , which belong to the diamond family ( Rutaceae ).
The generic name Aloysia refers to Maria-Luisa of Bourbon-Parma (1751-1819), the then Princess of Asturias Luisa María and later as the wife of Carlos IV also Queen of Spain.
Synonyms for Aloysia citrodora are Aloysia triphylla (L'Hér.) Britton , Lippia citrodora Kunth , Lippia triphylla (L'Hér.) Kuntze , Verbena triphylla L'Hér. , Zappania citrodora Lam. While the epithet citrodora refers to the intense lemon fragrance of the plant, indicates the epithet triphylla the typical leaf arrangement in three-leaf whorls at.
Origin and history
The lemon bush originally comes from subtropical regions of South America ( Uruguay , Argentina (Catamarca, Jujuy, La Rioja, Salta, Tucuman) Chile , Peru ) and was brought to Europe at the end of the 18th century. According to R. Govaerts, it originally occurs from southern Bolivia to northwestern Argentina. In the 1781 under Carlos III. At the newly opened Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid , plants were no longer just exhibited and propagated, but also scientifically examined in more detail and often described for the first time, mostly by Casimiro Gómez , more rarely Antonio Palau. In the case of the delightful lemon bush, the influential patroness was given the name - "un nuevo génera de planta consagrado a la Princesa de Asturias nuestra señora".
Seeds and seedlings of the species dispatched from Madrid first reached botanists in Paris - here Charles L'Héritier called them Verbena triphylla in 1785 - and then also in Oxford, where John Sibthorp introduced the plant into British gardening. As early as 1797, lemon verbena or vervain was common in greenhouses around London, and its popularity as an important part of a fragrant bouquet increased in the following century.
Fragrances and ingredients
Lemon verbena contain various essential oils in all parts of the plant , the fine, fresh scent of which is also reminiscent of lemon . The scent intensity of leaves is considerably stronger than that of most other plants with a similar smell. Even lightly rubbing the leaves creates a strong smell, carried by citrus aromas.
The essential oils contain citral as the main component , which corresponds to the aldehydes neral and geranial . Further components are mainly monoterpenes or monoterpene derivatives, such as limonene , carvone , dipentene , linalool , nerol and geraniol . Extracts of essential oils are used in different ways, for example as a perfume ingredient or as an insect repellent .
use
The lemon bush is used in a variety of ways, not only as an ornamental and scented plant in the garden, whose lip flowers visit butterflies and bumblebees, or as a cut flower in scented bouquets. In particular, an aromatic tea can be brewed from both fresh and dried leaves.
beverages
The lemon verbena is often used for the preparation of beverages. The fresh leaves are preferred, but dried leaves are also very popular, as the lemon aroma is retained for a long time when the leaves are dried. If you put freshly picked lemon verbena leaves in hot water for half an hour, you get a pleasantly refreshing tea . It is very popular in France as a stimulating, calming good-evening tea with a lemony aroma and is known as "verveine". This name is also common for tea in Switzerland. "Verbena tea" is also usually understood to mean lemon verbena from the verbena plant; Real verbena ( Verbena officinalis ) has a bitter taste. The drink Inca Kola from Peru also uses the aroma of lemon verbena (it is locally called "Cedrón"). A herbal liqueur is made from it in France.
Food
Even if the fresh leaves can be cooked like spinach, they are used much more often as a seasoning addition. Gourmets use the leaves for salads, in pork and mushroom dishes, but also for seasoning desserts such as fruit salads, puddings and for making ice cream. You can also work finely chopped leaves into the icing for lemon cake.
Cosmetics
Lemon verbena is not only used as a bath additive, which has a refreshing effect, but also to perfume or refine soaps.
household
Sacks or bunches of lemon verbena bring a fresh scent into the house or wardrobe.
Health effect
Since lemon verbena stimulates the appetite and stimulates digestion, they help against digestive problems and constipation. In addition, they have a slightly calming effect on nervousness, insomnia and thus, in conjunction with the other properties, also on colds.
Germ-inhibiting properties are assumed.
literature
- J. Armada & A. Barra: On Aloysia Palau (Verbenaceae) , In: Taxon , Volume 41, 1992, pp. 88-90. ISSN 0040-0262 .
swell
- AJ Pujadas Salvà & L. Plaza: Verbenaceae in Flora Iberica , CXXXIX: Aloysia - PDF-Online. (Section description)
- Gernot Katzer's spice pages .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
- ↑ Umberto Quattrocchi: CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: AC . CRC Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8493-2675-2 , p. 101.
- ^ Aloysia citrodora in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
- ^ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Aloysia. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved September 23, 2019.
- ↑ a b Entry in Plants for a Future .
- ↑ http://www.phytodoc.de/heilpflanze/zitronenstrauch/
