Comptonia

Autumn color of Comptonia peregrina

The Farnmyrte ( Comptonia peregrina ) is the only extant species of the genus Comptonia from the family of bog myrtle family ( Myricaceae ). This is also suitable as a decorative, ornamental plant aromatic shrub is widespread in eastern North America.

• 5.1 Notes and references
• 5.2 Further Reading

Description

Vegetative characteristics

The Farnmyrte grows as a densely branched, mostly deciduous shrub that reaches heights of growth of 0.5 up to 1.5 meters. It forms Polykormone using rhizomes. The outstretched to ascending, turning round branches have a fluffy hairy to bald, initially occupied with glandular hairs cortex. The bark of the branches is reddish brown to gray with a stiff -haired to shaggy, sometimes short fluffy hair.

The alternate arranged, when rubbed strongly aromatic scented leaves consist of a 3-6 mm long petiole and a 3 to 15.5 cm long and 0.3 to 2.9 cm wide leaf blade. The membranous, linear- lanceolate leaf blade is more or less deeply pinnatifid, so that the sheet is reminiscent of alternating - up almost opposite, roundish - ovate leaf sections on a fern frond. The leaf base is trimmed, be wedge-shaped, narrowed or wrong. The leaf surface is dense and fluffy glandular hairy or hairless on the top also. The dark green color of the top results from the terpene content. The long tapered at the base, almost heart-shaped stipules fall more or less from early.

Generative features

The Farnmyrte is usually dioecious ( dioecious ), rarely monoecious ( monoecious ) getrenntgeschlechtig. The oval to heart-shaped bracts are glabrous or pubescent, acuminate acute to long, glandular -dotted on the bottom, ciliated at the edge. The male inflorescences are several at the ends of the branches and are short, sometimes reflexed, yellowish - green catkins up to 5 cm in length. The female inflorescences are globose to ovoid with reddish bracts at a size of 5 mm at flowering time and up to 2 cm from the fruit time.

The flowers are always unisexual. The male flowers contain three to eight free or deformed at its base, stamens, which are shorter than the bracts surrounding them. The female flowers contain a einfächerigen ovary with a single ovule and two stylus. They are surrounded in the heyday of a lasting bract and two linear- pfriemlichen, to 1.3 cm wide, glandular- dotted bracts that grow the fruit time and split superior and concealing bracts in four to eight the fruit. The flowering time is in the spring before the leaves develop, Ohio from April to May, in Canada from mid-May to mid-June.

The fruits are combined to form a round, burr- like unit, 2.5 to 5.5 mm wide, oblong- ovate, smooth nutlets that are brown when ripe in late summer.

The Farnmyrte is a tetraploid with a chromosome number of 2n = 32

Occurrence

The Farnmyrte occurs in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. In Central Europe the genus Comptonia was in the Pliocene part of a rich variety of flora, but died out by the ice age.

Comptonia peregrina prefers to grow on dry, sandy to gravelly, low lime, sun-exposed sites in dry pine forests on mountain slopes, roadsides, in clearings, burns, older heaps and fallow pasture, and in gravel pits at altitudes 0-1800 meters. The pioneer plant is a troublesome weed in blueberry crops. There are stocks in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Iceland, Quebec and the U.S. states of Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Iceland, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

System

The basionym of this species ( Liquidambar peregrina L.) was first published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum [NB 1]. The genus Comptonia Charles Louis L' Héritier presented de Brut Elle in 1789 along with Comptonia aspleniifolia ( " asplenifolia " ) ( L.) L' Hér. ex Aiton in William Aiton: . Hortus Kewensis on [NB 2] The genus name honors the Comptonia Oxford Bishop Henry Compton, who was known as a hobby gardener. The valid species names Comptonia peregrina John Merle Coulter published in 1894. [NB 3] Other synonyms for Comptonia peregrina (L.) JMCoult. are: Comptonia ceterach Mirb, Myrica aspleniifolia L., Myrica Comptonia C.DC., Myrica peregrina (L.) Kuntze. . Some authors found varieties Comptonia peregrina var aspleniifolia (L.) Fernald and Comptonia peregrina var tomentosa A.Chev. on, this was in further processing but not given a taxonomic value.

Use

In temperate latitudes the Farnmyrte is an attractive and aromatic ornamental shrub with a beautiful autumn colors.

For the elucidation of plant roots Comptonia peregrina has already served as a model plant [NB 4] especially since she lives in symbiosis with Frankia. [NB 5]

The young fruits are eaten as a small bite. The aromatic leaves are used fresh or dried for brewing tea. The leaves were also used as a condiment.

Ethnobotany knows folk medicine uses of Farnmyrte by Indian tribes. [NB 6] The indigenous peoples in North America known for Comptonia peregrina additional uses. It was used in ritual ceremonies for smoking. We hired stimulants or antidepressants from plant parts forth. Also it was used as a poison.

Swell

• Allan J. Bornstein: Comptonia. In Flora of North America Editorial Committee ( eds.): Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 3: Magnoliidae and Hamamelidae, Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford et al 1997, ISBN 0-19-511246-6, p 435
• Paula M. Pijut: Comptonia peregrina. In: John K. Francis ( ed.) Wildland shrubs of the United States and its territories. Thamnic. In: Gen. Tech. Rep. IITF - 26th Vol 1, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry 2004, pp. 237-239 ( PDF-Datei. )
• David S. MacKenzie: Perennial groundcovers. Timber Press, 2002, ISBN 0-88192-557-8, pp. 110, ( limited preview on Google Book Search ).
• Andreas Roloff, Andreas Bärtels: Flora of woody plants. Determination, properties and use. Third, revised edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart ( Hohenheim) 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5614-6, pp. 211-212. (Preview)