Eschscholzia californica
California poppy (Eschscholzia californica )
Called The California poppy ( Eschscholzia californica ), and California poppy, California poppy cap or Schlafmützchen, a plant belonging to the family of the poppy crops is ( Papaveraceae ). Has its origin this kind in California and other southwestern U.S. states. Meanwhile, it is also common in Australia, South Africa and Europe.
- 6.1 Notes and references
- 6.2 External links
- 6.3 See also
Description
Vegetative characteristics
The California poppy is a bare, annual or perennial herbaceous plant that plant height reaches up to 60 centimeters. He's coming, branched, slightly woody at the base of stems. It forms a deep taproot. The standing in a basal rosette leaves are gray-green, triple fiederteilig divided into many fine, linear segments with blunt tips and up to 14 centimeters long.
It forms a terminal or leaf axils one, on long stalks upright seated, until almost spherical, later cone-shaped flower bud. The saucers similar radial symmetry flowers reach a diameter 2-12 cm. The base of the flower, the flower base ( receptaculum ), has a pronounced extended edge ( see figure at right ). In addition there are two sepals and four bright yellow to orange ( rarely white or reddish ), overlapping petals. Most of the petals have an orange spot at the base. The two sepals enclose the first bloom fully in the form of an old-fashioned nightcap, they are stripped off the blossoming of the petals and fall off as a whole. Hence the name Schlafmützchen. To the above constant, consisting of two filamentous stamps ovary sit tight the many stamens. The flowering period extends from July to September. The seeds ripen from August to September.
There are long formed thin, almost cylindrical, slightly thickened in the middle, up to 10 cm long pods. The bare, single-chamber pods have ten longitudinal ribs and open to the maturation according to two sides of length. From the pod are then numerous reticulate patterned, brown to black, elliptical seeds of 1.5 to 1.8 mm in length dismissed.
Other properties
All parts of plant are poisonous because it contains the roots up to 1.6% and in the herb about 0.3 % alkaloids. The root contains mainly allocryptopine while dominated in the herb Californidin. Furthermore, there allocryptopine and something Escholzin are listed. Other ingredients are the alkaloids protopine and chelerythrine, and flavonoids, such as rutoside. The plant comprises, in contrast to the other poppy plants no latex, but a colorless, aqueous liquid.
The chromosome number is given as 2n = 12.
Subspecies
The California poppy is very varied. More than 90 kinds of variations have been described. So not only differences between locations and types of plants were made, plants were distinguished by color and size of flowers. Today, only two subspecies are recognized:
- Eschscholzia californica subsp. californica: with a distinctive extended edge of the flower base and two -lobed cotyledons. Their original distribution area are the open grassy areas of California ( inland valleys ), Oregon, Nevada and Washington as well as Baja California in Mexico.
- Eschscholzia californica subsp. mexicana (Greene) C. Clark: with little pronounced extended edge of the soil and flowers ungelappten cotyledons. It occurs in deserts of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Utah and the Sonoran Desert of Mexico.
Distribution and ecology
This type is considered a " survivalist " in times of drought, because the seeds can survive for years in dry soil. In suitable weather conditions to germinate and bloom the plants rapidly and cover the land with a sea of flowers.
In dry areas or in cold winters of California poppies growing as an annual plant. In favorable conditions, a tap root forms and then it grows as a perennial plant over several years. In hot summers the aerial parts of the plant die off and survives only the fleshy taproot.
The home of the California poppy is the southwestern United States and Mexico. It will be used at altitudes up to 2000 meters before. In California, it occurs very numerous. North of Los Angeles County, the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, about 7 km ² with the bright orange-yellow flowers are at bloom covered.
It needs plenty of light and translucent, nutrient-poor soils. With maritime documents he copes well.
The flowers are only open when the sun shines. Every night and in cloudy weather or rain they close. The hermaphrodite flowers are pollinated by insects. To her spread this type uses the wind propagation and self- propagation. In winter, it can withstand temperatures down to -10 ° C.
Name
Their scientific name was given to this type of German poets and explorers Adelbert von Chamisso on the under the command of Otto von Kotzebue 1815 carried out until 1818 Rurik expedition. Unknown plants and animals have also been documented in California On this circumnavigation. Adelbert von Chamisso named the genus of the California poppy after his friend and colleague Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, a Baltic German physician, who took part as a ship's surgeon and naturalist on the expedition. Until its final form Eschscholzia the name has undergone several changes over time. The original German name was transliterated as Escholtz Эшшолц ( Ėššolc ) into Cyrillic alphabet. In the translation back into the Western Script it was " Eschscholtz ", with doubled "sh". Chamisso Latinized the name after " Eschscholzius " without the " t". In 1820 the resulting description of the genus was named in accordance with the international botanical nomenclature, Eschscholzia. However, he called them in the image panel, which accompanied the description, " Eschholzia " and elsewhere in the publication " Eschscholtzia ". The last name persisted through a century and is even now occasionally in use. The information collected by Chamisso copy is located in the herbarium of the Botanical Museum Berlin. As a type locality of the Port of San Francisco is given.
Culture
The California poppy has been widely used in recent centuries, either as a garden plant or by the carryover as a result of other human activities, such as after the end of the California Gold Rush, when many prospectors of San Francisco embarked to try their luck in Chile, New Zealand and Australia Search. The ships took the sand cliffs of San Francisco as ballast. Thus, the Californian poppy came to this country, where he became a widespread weed. Even if it is cultivated as a garden plant, it often finds its way into the great outdoors. So he is now seen in Germany as an in- naturalization neophyte. 1825 came seeds of this species in British gardens.
The California poppy in 1903 officially as the state flower of California. Its golden blooms were a fitting symbol for the " Golden State ". April 6, is celebrated in California as a "California Poppy Day." The fact that there is a California law that prohibits the cutting or otherwise removing the Californian poppy, is a common myth. However, there is a law except by authorized personnel of the government, prohibits the removal of any kind of vegetation along the provincial and state highways.
Because of the advanced elucidation of the molecular structure of the flower of the California poppy, it is used as a model plant in the exploration of flowering plants.
Most appropriate to the Californian poppy is for dry rock gardens with sandy soil. As a cut flower it is unsuitable, because the flower loses almost immediately after cutting their petals.
There are now several varieties of ornamental plants. The California poppy is also used as bee pasture plants and revegetation of roadsides. In France, it is cultivated for pharmaceutical purposes.
Use as medicaments
The leaves of the California poppy have been used by Native Americans for medicinal and spiritual purposes. In particular, it was used as sleeping pills and tranquilizers, and as a mild painkiller. The boiled flowers were rubbed as a remedy for lice in the hair. The women of the Cahuilla should have the pollen used as cosmetics.
The ingredients found today mainly in herbal medicine and homeopathy use. Despite its close relationship to the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum ) Eschscholzia has a significantly different effect on the central nervous system.
The fact that the Californian poppy for the modern pharmaceutical industry certainly of interest, showing the patent application from Boehringer Ingelheim for use as a pharmaceutical drug used to treat depression.