Succisa pratensis
Usually Teufelsabbiss ( Succisa pratensis)
The Ordinary Teufelsabbiss ( Succisa pratensis; earlier: Scabiosa Succisa L.), also called simply Abbiss or devil Wurz and devil bite, a meadow herbaceous perennial plant of the subfamily of the teasel family is ( Dipsacoideae ). Within the genus Succisa are two other species known. Under the name Succisella inflexa also called a related species also (Eastern ) Teufelsabbiss.
Name
The name Teufelsabbiss denotes the particular shape of its rootstock ( rhizome ); this is gradually dying from the bottom and then looks like " bitten " from. The botanical name comes from the Latin Succisa succisus, " cut down" the means. Other names: MHG abbiz, lat Morsus diaboli and herba sancti Petri
Features
The Teufelsabbiss is about 30-50 cm high. He has arranged in a rosette, alternate oblong to oblong - lanceolate leaves, whose edges are usually designed entire. Between July and September, the plant develops violet to blue flowers. These are 50 to 80 flowers grouped together in a hemispherical cup. They are supported by two rows of lanceolate bracts. At its edge wear fine lashes. The bracts are shorter than the flower heads and that's why at first not easily recognizable. At the bottom head are small chaff leaves. The inflorescence has no radiant florets. The four -edged and rough-haired outer calyx beneath the individual flowers running along each edge into a prickly sharp tip. The calyx is divided into five black bristles. The single flower forms a four-column 4-7 mm long, 3-4 mm long with verwachsenblättrige crown corolla tube from. The free stamens protrude beyond the corolla tube significantly. The ovary is inferior. It is composed of two fused carpels and includes a fruit tray, each with an ovule. The extended stylus übergipfelt the stamens. The Teufelsabbiss offers nectar, free access to this, however, denied by a juice ceiling. The 5-7 mm long fruit - four -edged, shaggy hairy achenes - be for fruit ripening, such as in August, lifted by the pressure of chaff leaves. The calyx remains on the fruit. Gone Roaming animals and wind movements spread from the fruit. Plants with this Aussbreitungsstrategie is referred to as wind and animal shakers. The fruit is the one of ants continued to spread to other animals, to whose fur they attach themselves or about the wind.
Occurrence
You meet the ordinary Teufelsabbiss particularly in montane regions on bog - poor grassland. He preferred alternating wet, base -rich, moderately acidic and humic soils. The Ordinary Teufelsabbiss is considered Magerkeitszeiger and colonized suitable sites from the plains in mountainous areas. In the Black Forest deposits were found up to 1400 m altitude in the Alps, he rises to 1040 meters in altitude. Growth places planar regions are understood on the basis of drainage measures tend to be in decline. The Teufelsabbiss is in some states on the Red List of endangered species in the hazard category 3 ( "endangered" ).
Ecology
Way of life
The Ordinary Teufelsabbiss is a perennial Hemikryptophyt. As memory and Überdauerungsorgan serves an upright rhizome, ranging up to 50 cm in depth. It is mostly rotted away at the bottom and therefore acts as bitten.
Flowers Ecology
The Ordinary Teufelsabbiss is a gynodiözische plant, that is, for a plant with a purely female flowers and on the other those made with hermaphrodite flowers. The hermaphrodite flowers the stamens mature before the stigmas, so there is Proterandrie. This is intended to promote cross-pollination. Is pollinated by bees of the Ordinary Teufelsabbiss, butterflies and various Diptera. The flowering period extends from July to September.
Synecology
The Ordinary Teufelsabbiss serves different butterflies as nectar, and their caterpillars as a forage crop. Depending on the ecotype feed oligophagous or monophagous caterpillars of the Golden fritillary butterfly or prior to the winter of Abbiss - fritillary butterfly on the leaves of the plant. The caterpillar of the Gammaeule uses the ordinary Teufelsabbiss polyphagous. The nectar appreciate especially endangered species such as the marsh gentian - Large Blues, the Braunfleckiger Fritillary, the marsh trefoil burnet, the blood droplets, the Ried devil or the still relatively frequently occurring Large ox-eye.
Use
The Ordinary Teufelsabbiss is occasionally planted as an ornamental plant in seasonally dry, moor and bog gardens nearby fields. It requires a moist soil in a sunny location. The varieties "Alba", which is characterized by a white crown, as well as the variety ' Nana ' with bluish- purple crown and a height up to about 25 centimeters are known.
Superstition
In folk medicine effective against stone disease (especially supposedly when the plant is harvested in the night before the 24th June). The bitten off looking like root of the plant has been attributed to a antidemonic effect. Worn as an amulet around the neck it was supposed to protect the wearer from evil sorcery. In the barn hung, it was regarded as a safe way to keep livestock from bewitchment.
Habit
Herb and flower heads of Teufelsabbiss
Flower head with Hoverfly