Cercidiphyllum

Japanese cake tree ( Cercidiphyllum japonicum)

The cakes trees ( Cercidiphyllum ), also called Katsurabäume, are the only plant genus of the family of Cercidiphyllaceae within the order of Saxifrage -like ( Saxifragales ). The German trivial name cakes trees is because fallen, dead leaves develop a distinctive scent after ( Leb ) cake. They are used as an ornamental plant and timber supplier.

• 4.1 Notes and references

Description

Appearance and leaves

Cercidiphyllum species are deciduous, fast-growing trees, the growth heights of up to 30 meters, sometimes reach up to 45 meters. The Secondary growth in thickness is from a conventional Kambiumring starting. Are formed vegetative long shoots and generative short shoots. The Siebröhrenplastiden are S-type.

The opposite or rarely alternate arranged on the long shoots leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The short shoots have only one sheet. The simple leaf blade is elliptical to circular at the base, more or less heart-shaped, and has a hand-shaped venation. The leaf margin sinuate to toothed. The stomata are anomocytisch. In autumn the foliage changes color intensive. The stipules are early lapses.

Inflorescences and flowers

Before the leaves the frets then inflorescences are formed on short shoots. The cakes trees are dioecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( dioecious ), so there are male and female trees. The male inflorescences are very short and contain four or more flowers. The female inflorescences are short-stemmed and usually contain two to six, rarely up to eight flowers. The sessile flowers stand above a bract, respectively.

The flowers do not bloom. The male flowers only rarely contain one or, usually seven to thirteen stamens. The female flowers contain only a constant upper carpel with 15 to 30 ovules in two rows. The two-celled pollen grains have three apertures and are weak COLPAT. The sleek, long, recurved style ends in a bidentate scar.

Pollination is by wind ( anemophily ).

Fruit and seeds

The follicles are together bündelig. The winged, flat seeds have oily endosperm and a large, well-trained, chlorophyll -less embryo with two seed leaves ( cotyledons ).

Ingredients and chromosome numbers

There are calcium oxalate crystals accumulate, sometimes in drusen. They contain cyanidin, ellagic acid and flavonols kaempferol and quercetin.

The chromosome number is n = 19

Systematics, evolution and distribution

The genus is Cercidiphyllum such as the genera Metasequoia and Ginkgo is a living fossil. It is a very old genus, which has survived only two species with disjunct areas in Asia today. They have small areas in China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. The genus was part of a " China - Japan - Tertiary Flora". Related species there were in the Tertiary in Europe and North America ( Holarctic ). Fossils of the family are known from the Paleocene and Eocene. Cercidiphyllum crenatum Unger and Cercidiphyllum obtritum ( Dawson ) Wolfe & Wehr include extinct species whose leaves are found as fossils and their pollen can be found in pollen analyzes from the Tertiary. The natural occurrence of the two extant species are in moderate areas.

The family name was published in 1907 by Adolf Engler in Cercidiphyllaceae Syllabus of lectures on Special Events and Medicinisch - pharceutische Botany, p 126. The first description of the type genus Cercidiphyllum was made in 1846 by Philipp Franz von Siebold & Zuccarini Joseph Gerhard in treatises of Mathematics and Physics Classe Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Volume 4, 3, pp. 238 type species is Cercidiphyllum japonicum Siebold & Zucc .. The botanical generic name Cercidiphyllum they received because the leaves where the Judas trees ( Cercis ) look very similar.

The Cercidiphyllaceae family was formerly assigned to the orders Hamamelidales Wettstein and fagales Engl. Molecular genetic studies show that it belongs to the order Saxifragales. The woody taxa Cercidiphyllaceae, Paeoniaceae, Altingiaceae, Hamamelidaceae and Daphniphyllaceae form a clade secured.

There are only two species in the genus Cercidiphyllum and thus in the family of Cercidiphyllaceae:

• Japanese cake tree, Japanese Katsura tree or gingerbread ( Cercidiphyllum japonicum Siebold & Zucc, Syn. Cercidiphyllum japonicum var sinense Rehder & EHWilson ): The home is China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.
• Great cupcake tree or Big Katsura ( Cercidiphyllum magnificum ( Nakai ) Nakai, Syn: Cercidiphyllum japonicum var magnificum Nakai ): The home is only Japan.

Use

The cakes trees form a very hard, light wood, which is a very valuable material for veneers.

Especially some varieties of Cercidiphyllum japonicum are planted in the moderate zones of the world in gardens and parks as ornamental tree. In horticultural cultivated varieties were read out with different growth forms ( for example, with hanging branches ).

To achieve fertilization, you need a male tree for every five female. The trees are very hardy in Central Europe. They do not like dry soil. The autumn color is especially nice on acidic soils.

Swell

• The Cercidiphyllaceae family in APWebsite. (Sections Description and systematics)
• The Cercidiphyllaceae family at DELTA by L. Watson & MJ Dallwitz. ( Description section )
• Dezhi Fu & Peter K. Endress: Cercidiphyllaceae in the Flora of China, Volume 6, pp. 126: text Registered as printed work, in: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Deyuan Hong (eds.): Flora of China, Volume 6 - Caryophyllaceae through Lardizabalaceae, Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis, 2001, ISBN 1-930723-05-9. .
• MS Dosmann: Katsura: A review of Cercidiphyllum in cultivation and in the wild, In: . The New Plantsman, 6, 1999, pp. 52-62.