Armeria maritima
Beach thrift ( Armeria maritima subsp. Maritima )
The beach thrift ( Armeria maritima ), very often called Ordinary Thrift, is a plant which belongs to the family of Plumbago plants ( Plumbaginaceae ). Unlike their name suggest, it is not a carnation. It is a typical Florenelement the salt marshes at the seashore. The salt separates them by special glands on the leaf surface. The plant was formerly used as a remedy for epilepsy due to content of plumbagin, but which is highly irritating. It is often planted as an ornamental plant in gardens.
Description
The beach thrift often grows like cushions as deciduous, perennial herbaceous plant growth and can reach heights of up to 50 cm. It forms a taproot. Your at a width of only 1 to 3 mm very narrow, linealischen leaves reminiscent of leaves of grasses and are single or rarely three annoying. The leaves are hairy something that will serve as a protection against evaporation. The outer, blunt, sometimes more, sometimes less short- pointed bracts of the flower head does not extend beyond these usually. The petals are colored pink to purple. It flowers from May to October. The heterostyled flowers are pollinated by numerous species of insects. The fruits are spread by the wind or by Velcro effect.
Occurrence
The beach thrift grows mainly on dunes of the sea coasts (mainly subspecies elongata ), salt marshes, sand and silicate dry grasslands, dry forests and soils polluted with heavy metals (mainly using the subspecies halleri ). Here, the plant can reach toxic concentrations up to 0.7 % zinc and .15 % lead. While it occurs scattered in northern Germany on both the North Sea and on the Baltic Sea coast, it is very rare inland. Therefore, it is classified with their subspecies on the Red List of vascular plants of Germany in the hazard class 3. The plant is a nature reserve and is protected specifically under BArtSchV. The beach thrift is further spread throughout the entire northern and southern hemisphere, even occurs in parts of Antarctica and Greenland.
System
The type Armeria maritima is very rich in form and now one divides the beach thrift into several subspecies, formerly known as independent species have, in part:
- True beach thrift ( Armeria maritima subsp maritima. ) Has relatively short outer bracts, which are only about 10 mm long, short acuminate or obtuse and shorter than the inner and on the back are green. Its leaves are only 1 to 1.5 mm wide, indistinct einnervig, fleshy and often ciliate. The flower stalk is often something fluffy. The flower heads reach a diameter of 15 to 20 mm.
- Sand Thrift ( Armeria maritima subsp elongata. ) Has larger outer bracts as subsp. maritima, these are 10 to 25 mm long, lanceolate and acuminate. The flower heads can reach a diameter of 18 to 25 mm. The pointed leaves are 5-12 cm long and 2-3 mm wide and einnervig. The flower stalk is always hairless.
Other subspecies are as follows:
- Calamine Thrift ( Armeria maritima subsp. Halleri )
- Purple Thrift ( Armeria maritima subsp. Purpurea)
- Armeria maritima subsp. Serpentini
- Armeria maritima subsp. bottendorfensis
- Armeria maritima subsp. hornburgensis
Trivial names
Also more common names are for the plant species Armeria vulgaris or were, sometimes only regionally used: Grass Mountain Flower, Mountain Elke, Goldröseln (Tirol ), grass flower (Silesia ), Grasfilette ( Ostfriesland), Grasfilitte ( Butjaden ), Thrift ( Pomerania ), Hasenpoten ( Pomerania ), Hamblaum ( Wangerooge ), coat button ( Fehrbellin ) Kubb - Blömmk (Helgoland), sea grass flowers ( East Prussia ), large sea grass, sea nails, Mövenblume (Helgoland ) Pingsterblöm ( Ostfriesland), Pink (forest Brühl), sand Elke, Schlernhexe ( Tyrol ), seagrass ( East Prussia ), seagrass flowers ( East Prussia ), Seggrasnägelein, beach cabbage, beach clove, helichrysum (Bremen) and Winsfelder roses ( Fusch im Pinzgau ).
Swell
- Beach thrift. In: FloraWeb.de.