Oemleria

Oemleria cerasiformis, branch with simple foliage leaves and inflorescences

Oemleria cerasiformis, sometimes also called Oregonpflaume, the only species of monotypic genus Oemleria within the rose family is ( Rosaceae ). It is native to western North America.

• 5.1 Notes and references

Description

Appearance and leaf

In Oemleria cerasiformis is a self erect, loosely branched, deciduous, deciduous shrub that plant height 1-5 meters reached or small tree stature heights of up to 6 meters. Are formed foothills. The smooth bark is reddish- brown to dark - gray. The bark of the slender branches is bald, first green later reddish- brown coloring and has clearly visible orange lenticels. The terminal buds have a length of 7-9 mm and the lateral buds are shorter.

The alternate arranged leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The petiole is relatively short with a length of 5 to 15 mm. The simple, full leaves, gray - green leaf blade is lanceolate with a length of 5 to 13 centimeters and a width of 2 to 5 cm, elliptic to narrowly obovate with pointed Spreitengrund and pointed top. The smooth leaf edge curls up more or less down. The lower leaf surface is bright and sometimes slightly pubescent and glabrous. The upper leaf surface is bare. In spring it is one of the earliest laubaustreibenden species in their home range. The freshly expelled leaves taste like cucumber. The stipules fall off early.

Inflorescence, flower and fruit

The flowering period extends into North America from April to May Oemleria cerasiformis is usually dioecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( dioecious ). There are 3 to 10 cm long, pendulous, racemose inflorescences on short lateral branches. There are per inflorescence one or two bracts, but no cover pages available.

The fragrant, usually unisexual, rarely hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and fünfzählig double perianth. The flower cup ( hypanthium ) is 3 to 4.5 mm high. The five free, white, nailed petals are 3-6 mm long, the male flowers are slightly larger than in the female. In the male and hermaphrodite flowers three circles, each with five stamens are present; they protrude slightly out of the corolla. There are five free carpels present. Most of the flower cup and pen wither soon after pollination.

It formed a per flower to five drupes. The hanging on a red stem stone fruit is ovoid and slightly bean-shaped with a length of 5 to 15 mm. The blue- green frosted drupe is initially orange to yellow and turns blue-black when ripe.

Chromosome number

The basic chromosome number of x = 8

Occurrence

The natural range of Oemleria cerasiformis is only in western North America. Oemleria cerasiformis is located in the southern part of the Canadian state of British Columbia and the western states of the United States in the western Oregon, western Washington and northern California.

Oemleria cerasiformis occurs mainly in cool, moist forests on acidic to weakly alkaline, nutrient-rich, sandy- loamy to loamy, humus-rich soils. In addition, it also occurs in shrub areas and hedges. It prefers light shade locations with mild winters. It grows up to the USDA hardiness zone 6a.

System

The first description was in 1841 (1839) under the name ( basionym ) Nuttallia cerasiformis by John Torrey and Asa Gray in William Jackson Hooker and George Arnott Walker Arnott: The Botany of Captain Beechey 's Voyage, p 337, Plate 82 The Genus Oemleria 1841 established by Ludwig Reichenbach in The herbarium directory, page 236. The new combination to Oemleria cerasiformis published John Waddell Landon 1975 in Taxon, Volume 24, Issue 1, p 200 The genus name honors the German naturalist Oemleria Augustus Gottlieb Oemler ( 1773-1852 ). The specific epithet means cerasiformis cherry- shaped. Another synonym for Oemleria cerasiformis ( Torr. & A. Gray ex Hook. & Arn. ) JWLandon is Osmaronia cerasiformis ( Torr. & A. Gray ) Greene.

Oemleria cerasiformis is the only species of the monotypic genus Oemleria from the tribe Osmaronieae in the subfamily Spiraeoideae within the family Rosaceae.

Use

The fruits of Oemleria cerasiformis be eaten raw or cooked. The approximately for small plum -looking fruits are very bitter with an almond flavor, which decreases approximately at full maturity. The fruit has only a thin layer of pulp. It can be dried and stored over the winter. Caution is advised due to the toxicity of cyanide.

The medical effects have been investigated. Plant parts have been used in folk medicine.

Swell

• Andreas Roloff, Andreas Bärtels: Flora of woody plants. Determination, properties and use. Third, revised edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart ( Hohenheim) 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5614-6.
• Daniel Potter & Barbara Ertter: Entry genus and species at Jepson eFlora.