Aspidistra

Aspidistra elatior

The Schuster palms ( Aspidistra ) are a genus of the family of asparagus plants ( Asparagaceae ). The Aspidistra species are native originally in East Asia (China, Eastern Himalayas and Japan).

Description

Aspidistra species usually grow as an evergreen, perennial herbaceous plants. Are formed creeping, long rhizomes. The basal leaves are available individually or in pairs to files directly on the rhizome. The upright leaves consist of a long petiole and leaf blade. The simple leaf blade has many veins.

The inflorescence stem is usually very short, so that the flowers are often located just above the ground. The inflorescence stem has two to eight scaly leaves and stand on it usually only one, sometimes two flowers directly over one or two bracts. The hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry. The fleshy bracts are bell - cup - or urn- shaped fused with usually six or eight (four to ten) Blütenhüllblattlappen. There are four to ten stamens present which are usually inserted in the upper region of the Blütenhüllblattröhre. There are at most very short stamens present. Three or four carpels are fused into a three - or vierkammerigen ovary. Each ovary chamber contains several ovules. The short style ends in a large, shield - or mushroom-shaped scar that has a smooth or lobed margin.

The spherical or ellipsoid berries eifömig usually contain only one seed.

System

The genus Aspidistra was set up in 1823 by British botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler - in Bot Reg, 8, Table 628. The genus was formerly classified in the family Liliaceae and Convallariaceae. There are about 55 to 65 Aspidistra species.

The following species list next to the botanical author abbreviation is indicated by the publication year of publication of the first description:

• Aspidistra acetabuliformis Y.Wan & CCHuang, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 25: 396 ( 1987).
• Aspidistra alternativa D.Fang & LYYu, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 40: 161 (2002).
• Aspidistra arnautovii Tillich, Feddes Repert. 116: 314 (2005): Aspidistra arnautovii subsp. arnautovii.
• Aspidistra arnautovii subsp. catbaensis Tillich, Feddes Repert. 116: 316 ( 2005).

• Aspidistra elatior var attenuata ( Hayata ) SSYing, in Fl. Taiwan, ed 2, 5: 40 ( 2000).
• Aspidistra elatior var elatior.

Use

Of the genus Aspidistra especially a species is often used as an ornamental plant: Aspidistra elatior is a robust ornamental plant in parks and gardens in frost-free areas; it is a robust house plant with dark green, leathery, glossy leaves. It also comes with low temperatures, drafts and little light along well and was therefore often used to set up for decoration in shops ( Aspidistra or butcher palm). Also known as cut foliage it is offered for florists. Schuster palm trees, despite their robustness no longer readily available, as they are considered old-fashioned.

George Orwell has the time often encountered in offices or homes of the middle class in England species treated satirically in his novel "Keep the Aspidistra Flying " (1936, German: " The joys of aspidistra ", filmed in 1997 ). English common names are: "iron plans," " barroom plans," " cast-iron plant".

Pictures

Aspidistra elatior:

Habitus.

Flowers directly above the ground.

Aspidistra elatior cv. variegata cultivar with variegated leaves.

The leaf tips of the cultivar Aspidistra elatior ' Lennon 's Song '.

Swell

• Liang Songyun (梁松筠) & Minoru N. Tamura: Aspidistra in the Flora of China, Volume 24, 2000, p 240: Online.