Salix arctica

Arctic willow (Salix arctica)

The Arctic willow or Arctic willow ( Salix arctica ) is a plant of the genus willow ( Salix) within the family of the willow family ( Salicaceae ). With the Arctic Poppy (Papaver radicatum ) this type is the most in the north living angiospermous; both still survive to 80 ° north latitude.

• 5.1 Notes and references

Description

Appearance, bark and leaf

The Arctic willow grows as a small, creeping shrub ( trellis vine), which is typically achieved only plant height 1-15 cm, rarely 25 cm. He usually grows singly, sometimes it forms colonies by stolons. The main branches are lying to decumbent or upright. The yellow-brown, yellowish, grayish - brown, red - brown or brownish bark of the branches is not frosted and bare. The yellow- brown, red - brown or purple bark of the branches is thin frosting until thick, glabrous or sparsely to very dense, soft and shaggy with spreading hairs ( trichomes ) covered.

The alternate arranged on the branches leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The 2-35 mm long petiole has no glands and is hairy on one side and fluffy deep concave in cross-section but the edges do not cover the bald furrow. The herbaceous to leathery, flat to recurved leaf blades are connected to a length of 1 to 8.5 cm and a width of 5.5 to 60 mm, with a length / width ratio of 1 to 3.6 elliptical (narrow - elliptic to nearly circular), circular, inverted - lanceolate or obovate ( to broadly obovate ). The Spreitenbasis runs from sharp or blunt. The smooth or occupied by one to three teeth per inch blade edge has its entire length or only near the Spreitenbasis glandular hairs. The upper leaf surface is smooth or dull and usually hairy bald or sparse. Stomata are located either on the underside of leaves or along the leaf veins or at the tip of the leaf surface. The lower leaf surface is covered bald or sparse, spreading or pressed down with long, silky, mostly straight or rarely wavy hair. On young plants the leaves copies ( trichomes ) are yellowish - green, sparsely covered or bare on the bottom with white, long, straight towards the tip directed hairs. It may be present with an acute upper end foliage leaf - or scale-like stipules that fall soon.

Inflorescences, flowers and fruits

The Arctic willow is dioecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( dioecious ). Before the leaves when opening the leaf buds appear just below the peaks of last year's growth to a few kitten shaped inflorescences with only a few flowers. The male catkins are at a length of 11 to 50 mm and a width of 5 to 18 mm slim or penetrated almost spherical and contain tightly packed the flowers; they stand at 2-20 mm long flower stems to 2 to 13 mm long Blütenstandsschäften. The female catkins are slim to stocky or spherical with a length of 11 to 120 mm and a width of 8-18 mm and contain more or less crowded, the flowers; they stand at 2 to 80 mm long flower stems to 4 to 30 mm long Blütenstandsschäften. The brown to black or rarely light brown contract leaves have a length of 1.6 to 3.7 mm and are widest in the middle or at the base; they are covered all over the surface with sparse straight hair, and have a smooth or more or less wavy edge. The male flowers usually have the top and bottom a nectar gland. The two stamens have a bare filament. The initially purple, rarely later yellow anthers are ellipsoid with a length of 0.4 to 0.9 mm. The female flowers are unlobed. The more or less hairy, flattened ovary contains 10-18 ovules. Containing 0.6 to 2.2 mm long style ends of a narrow - cylindrical, sometimes squat scar with 0.36-0.88 mm long lobes.

The most hairy or sometimes bare fruit capsules are 4-9 mm long.

Chromosome number

The chromosome numbers be 2n = 76 and 114 at Ploidiegraden Tetraploidy & Hexaploidie are detected.

Occurrence

The natural range of the Arctic willow extends over the circumpolar tundra Europe, North America and Asia. But they are also found in the mountainous areas of the temperate zone. It is well adapted to the harsh arctic and subarctic environment. The distribution area of ​​any other wooden plant extends as far to the north. They can be found even in the most northern part of the north coast of Greenland.

Salix arctica prefers dry, cold, muddy open Torfmoossümpfe and the edges of muddy pools in coarse sandy soil.

System

The first release of Salix arctica occurred in 1788 by Peter Simon Pallas in Flora Rossica, 1 ( 2 ), pp. 86 is a homonym Salix arctica R.Br. ex Richardson published in Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, 1823, pp. 752-753. Synonyms of Salix arctica Pall. are: Salix Anglorum auct. non Cham., Salix Anglorum var antiplasta cutting. , Salix Anglorum var araioclada cutting. , Salix Anglorum var kophophylla cutting. , Salix arctica subsp. crassijulis ( Trautv. ) Skvort. , Salix arctica subsp. tortulosa ( Trautv. ) Hultén, Salix arctica var antiplasta ( Schneid. ) remote. , Salix arctica var araioclada ( Schneid. ) Raup, Salix arctica var brownei Anderss. , Salix arctica var kophophylla ( Schneid. ) Polunin, Salix arctica var pallasii ( Anderss. ) Kurtz, Salix arctica var tortulosa ( Trautv. ) Raup, Salix brownei ( Anderss. ) Bebb, Salix crassijulis Trautv. , Salix hudsonensis cutting. , Salix pallasii Anderss. , Salix pallasii var crassijulis ( Trautv. ) Anderss. , Salix Salix arctica tortulosa Trautv .. belongs to the section Diplodictyae CKSchneider in the genus Salix.

Use

The tender young shoots of Salix arctica can be collected at the beginning of spring and, stripped of bark, are eaten raw. Young willow leaves are an excellent source of vitamin C. They contain about seven to ten times as much vitamin C as oranges. Like most willows, it contains aspirin -like compounds. A tea made ​​from the bark acts similar to aspirin. Chewed bark can be used for minor burns and insect bites. Chewing the bark cleans teeth and prevents tooth decay.

Swell

• Salix arctica in GW Argus, CL & MJ Dallwitz McJannet: Salicaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago at DELTA. (Section Description, occurrence and systematics)
• Cheng -fu Fang, Shi -dong Zhao & Alexei K. Skvortsov: Salicaceae Salix arctica pp. 242 - Online, In: CY Wu, PH Raven & DY Hong: Cycadaceae through Fagaceae, Volume 4, 1999, In: Flora of China editorial Committee: Flora of China, Science Press & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis. (Section Description and systematics)