Arabidopsis arenosa

Sand foam cress (Arabidopsis arenosa )

The sand foam cress (Arabidopsis arenosa (L.) Lawalrée, Syn: Cardaminopsis arenosa (L.) Hayek ), also called sand cress, a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae is ( Brassicaceae). The botanical genus name Arabidopsis is composed of the generic name Arabis and Greek " οψις " " looking like ". The specific epithet arenosa is Latin and means " sandy", "sand loving".

Description

The sand - cress is a froth ( evergreen ) biennial herbaceous plant, which reaches stature heights of 15 to 40 cm. It has a spindle-shaped, white root. The lanceolate, pinnatifid to fiederschnittigen basal leaves are usually arranged like a rosette. The stem leaves are, however, often entire, dentate or slightly pinnatifid. The stem is erect and usually ramified. In the lower part it is, like the leaves of the basal rosette, mostly from simple to multi-branched hairs rough. The upper part of the stem as well as the stem leaves are mostly bare.

In racemose inflorescences many flowers are borne. Each flower is on an approximately 4 mm long pedicel. The 6-9 mm petals are provided with a pair of teeth on the nail and white to pink colored. The sand foam cress flowers from April to August. The pollination process usually take kurzrüsslige insects. Whether a self-pollination also works is been investigated insufficiently.

The sand foam cress has significantly flattened, 8-46 mm long pods. It has very short-lived seeds that are viable only within a few months. They spread themselves out mostly by the wind or carried away ( Anemochorie ).

The habit of the sand foam cress is highly variable.

Rosette of basal leaves ( subsp. arenosa, Almsee, Upper Austria )

Subspecies

The sand cress is divided into two subspecies:

• Arabidopsis arenosa subsp. arenosa is the diploid or tetraploid clan of the German lowlands; in Austria it rises to 2000 m. The lower leaves are provided with both sides only 1-6 sections or teeth. The petals are usually white in color and are rarely pink. The sheets are 0.6 to 1.1 mm wide and 0.6 to 1.1 mm long and containing seeds having no skin edge. In Europe, natural sites in: Austria, Belarus, Bosnia - Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, in northeastern France, Germany, Hungary, northern Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine known, and Yugoslavia. Naturalises is this subspecies in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Western Siberia and Sweden.

• Arabidopsis arenosa subsp. borbasii is the tetraploid clan, which is mostly used in the Central European mountains. It has sterile rosettes. The lower leaves are provided on both sides with 3 to 11 sections or teeth. The petals are usually colored pink to purple. The sheets are approximately 1 to 1.7 mm wide and contain from 1 to 1.6 mm long seeds, which are provided with a narrow edge of the skin. Locations are available in the Czech Republic, in northeastern France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, 2n = 32

Distribution and location

The sand foam cress is found relatively widespread throughout Germany, as in other parts of northern Europe. It is in places penetrated into the boreal zones to western Asia.

The sand foam cress growing on nutrient-poor, calcareous soils. It prefers light rich, dry locations. She is on sandy dry grasslands, sandy to gravelly waste places or dumps. While the subspecies A. arenosa subsp. arenosa is mostly found in the lowlands, comes in the highlands the subspecies A. arenosa subsp. borbasii about which, however, is increasingly to be found on rock debris and rubble places.

Trivial names

For the sand foam cress the names cress, mustard and Heath Sandrauke are common.