Plantago maritima
Beach - plantain ( Plantago maritima )
The beach - plantain ( Plantago maritima ) is a plant from the family of the plantain family ( Plantaginaceae ). It is mainly found in the northern hemisphere on saline sites.
Other names are or were Andel ( Jever ) Rueller ( Ostfriesland), Qeige ( Holland), Röttnsteert ( Ostfriesland), Sodder ( North Frisia) and South ( Holstein).
Several small species such as the Snake plantain ( Plantago serpentina ), the Kiel- plantain ( Plantago Holosteum ) and the Alpen- plantain ( Plantago alpina) are added to the collective species Plantago maritima agg. summarized.
Description
At the beach - Plantain is a deciduous, perennial herbaceous plant that reaches the plant height of 15 to 40 cm. It grows like a rosette, forming the heyday of an uplifted, aged men from inflorescence. The thickened fleshy, gray-green colored rosette leaves are linear to lanceolate shaped. You are sawn glabrous and rarely easy. The sheets are often longer than 10 cm, however, in comparison to other types of plantain only about 2 to 6 mm wide. At first they are keeled oberseits rinnig and down, then later they are flat and have three to five parallel nerves. The small, reduced, yellow - brown colored individual flowers are few, dense spikes, which can be 3 to 10 cm long and always a lot shorter than the ears of corn stalk. The petals of each single flower form of brownish Corolla lobe. The front oval-shaped sepals appear obtuse rounded and are about 2 to 2.3 mm long. Both the deck and the sepals are usually ciliated short. The beach Plantain also forms a short upset, pleiokormen rootstock, which is provided with flaky remains of woolly leaf sheaths. The beach plantain flowers from July to October.
Ecology
There, the following adjustments to the salt site have developed: The succulence of the leaves with deposits of salt in cast vacuoles, premature shedding of the oldest leaves, in which the salt is enriched, enrichment of the sugar alcohol sorbitol in the cytoplasm as an osmotic counterweight to the high salt concentration in the vacuoles. Despite these adjustments, the plant is only an optional Halophyt with an optimum growth at low or no salt content.
A total of 26 different species of insects live on the plant. Germinating beach - plantains are an important food for brent geese in the spring.
Occurrence
The beach - plantain is widespread in Eurasia. In addition, he is in North (Canada, northern USA) and South America (southern Argentina and Chile).
The beach - Plantain is a characteristic species of the salt marshes and beach societies of the North and Baltic Sea coast, but he also happens to salt affected waste places inland. The plant is one of the most important representatives of the tread flora. Rarely the beach plantain was already on calcium sulphate soils (gypsum) have been found. On the coasts it is relatively common. In the interior it is, however, quite rare. In Brandenburg, Rhineland -Palatinate and Bavaria, he is considered lost. In some states, it is on the red list of vascular plant, as its stocks are there threatened primarily by human influence.
Small species
Several small species such as the Snake plantain ( Plantago serpentina ), the Kiel- plantain ( Plantago Holosteum ) and the Alpen- plantain ( Plantago alpina ) were added to the collective species Plantago maritima agg. summarized.
The Alpine plantain can be found on calcium-poor, stony clay soil humic - in alpine regions. He finds himself in the Central Alps at altitudes 1000-2500 m above sea level. NN. The Retail total is smaller ( 5 to 15 cm high) and the ears are only 1.5 to 3 cm long. The bracts are pointed but grannenlos. The plants bloom a little earlier from April to August.
The Serpent plantain ( Plantago serpentina ) has fleshy, flat, roundish ciliate leaves and is found on serpentine or over basic rocks in the Alps and in the Swiss Jura. The ear is 4-12 cm long here.
The keel - plantain ( Plantago Holosteum ) has keeled leaves that are sparsely ciliate at the edge. At the top they are shallow furrows. The species is rarely found on Lake Garda to high Schwab.
Use
The young leaves and shoots of the plant can be eaten raw or cooked - they should have a delicate flavor. Raw leaves are very well suited for mixed salads.