Cypress Spurge

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Cypress Spurge
Cypress Spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias)

Cypress Spurge ( Euphorbia cyparissias )

Systematics
Rosids
Eurosiden I
Order : Malpighiales (Malpighiales)
Family : Spurge Family (Euphorbiaceae)
Genre : Spurge ( Euphorbia )
Type : Cypress Spurge
Scientific name
Euphorbia cyparissias
L.
Flowers in partial inflorescence.
Flowers close-up
Infructescence empty after cocci fell off

The Cypress Spurge ( Euphorbia cyparissias ) is a species that for the same family of the spurge family belongs (Euphorbiaceae).

description

This bluish-green, perennial, herbaceous plant reaches heights of growth between 15 and 50 cm and has densely leafy stems . There are usually two different looking forms of shoots on the plants. The non-blooming shoots look like a pine tree, "like a cypress", from which the name is derived. The leaves are narrow, linear, thin, 1–3 cm long and only 2–3 mm wide.

The main umbel ( Scheindolde ) is multi-rayed; Bracts of the upper branch are not overgrown, yellow and finally red. The nectar glands are crescent-shaped, two-horned, waxy yellow. The capsule fruit is fine warzig.

The flowering period is between May and September.

The species has chromosome number 2n = 20 or 40.

ecology

The cypress milkweed is a summer, rarely also an evergreen stem plant and a root-bud geophyte as well as a root-creeping pioneer. If the plant is injured, a white milky juice is immediately excreted from undivided milk juice tubes. This contains up to 15% resin, rubber , fats, protein , starch and other substances. It is used to close wounds and protect against eating. It is rooted up to 60 centimeters deep.

The flowers are strictly female "nectar-bearing disc flowers". The nectaries are small, golden-yellow glands that secrete the honey- scented nectar . The flowers are often visited by insects , especially bees . These plants are the most important food source for the caterpillars of the milkweed hawk. It is considered "endangered" throughout Germany, because the cypress milkweed, as a "xerophytic migrant plant", is finding fewer and fewer locations.

As with most of the very many milkweed species, the three-headed capsule fruits disintegrate explosively by an impact mechanism around the seeds (self-expansion). In addition, the seeds also have an oil body that encourages ants to spread . Ant hills are therefore often overgrown with cypress milkweed on the lower outer edge.

toxicology

All parts of the plant are highly poisonous due to the milky sap. The main active ingredients are diterpene esters of the Ingenan type, so-called Cyparissias factors. They have a strong irritating effect on the skin and are tumor-promoting.

The plants are largely avoided by grazing cattle because of their pungent smell and taste; However, since the poisonous effect is not lost through drying, poisoning from the content in the hay is still possible.

Painful blisters can form on skin contact. As with other milkweed species, the sticky milky sap should never come into contact with the eye! It is difficult to remove from it and there is a risk of dangerous conjunctivitis and corneal inflammation.

distribution

The cypress milkweed is widespread all over Europe up to the alpine levels (up to 2300 meters); in some cases it has penetrated into Asia . It is common in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The distribution area extends from Europe to northwestern Turkey. However, the species is a neophyte in many other countries. Due to its anti-repellant poisons and its ability to spread clonally, this root-creeping pioneer can become an almost widespread plague on intensive sheep and horse pastures, provided that there is no “mowing”.

It prefers to grow on limestone, grasslands , sheep pastures, dry slopes and rocks. It is a weak Festuco-Brometea class character and also occurs in societies of the class Sedo-Scleranthetea, the order Agropyretalia or the associations Violion or Erico-Pinion. In the Allgäu Alps, it rises in the Tyrolean part at the southeast foot of the Rothornspitze up to 2130 m above sea level.

particularities

On the right a shoot (ramet) infected with "pea rust", on the left a healthy one.

The cypress milkweed is often attacked by various rust fungus species from the relatives of the pea rust ( Uromyces pisi ), which cover the underside of the leaves with orange-colored pustules (= acidia ). The infected plants change their appearance strongly: the stems are then weak and unbranched, the leaves are almost egg-shaped and about 1 cm long; the plant is prevented from blooming ("parasitic castration"). The metabolism is transformed in such a way that the plant exudes nectar and a fruity fragrance on the underside of the leaves, which serve as attractants for the spread of the fungal spores.

literature

  • Dankwart Seidel: Flowers. Determine accurately with the 3-check. 2nd, revised edition. blv, Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2001, ISBN 3-405-15766-8 .
  • Manfred A. Fischer , Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol. 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2005, ISBN 3-85474-140-5 .
  • 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 .
  • Roth / Daunderer / Kormann: Poisonous plants, plant poisons. 4th edition.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Stuttgart, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 2001. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5
  2. ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Euphorbia cyparissias. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  3. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 2, IHW, Eching 2004, ISBN 3-930167-61-1 , p. 195.
  4. ↑ Friedemann Klenke, Markus Scholler: Plant Parasitic Small Mushrooms: Identification book for fire, rust, powdery mildew, flagellate mushrooms and usury relatives in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and South Tyrol . Springer-Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-662-46162-4 , pp. 384 f . ( available from Google Books ).
  5. ↑ Monika Pfunder & Barbara A. Roy (2000): Pollinator-mediated interactions between a pathogenic fungus, Uromyces pisi (Pucciniaceae), and its host plant, Euphorbia cyparissias (Euphorbiaceae). American Journal of Botany vol. 87 no. 1: 48 - 55. online

Web links

Commons : Cypress Spurge ( Euphorbia cyparissias )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files