Helichrysum
Helichrysum basalticum
The plant genus of helichrysum ( Helichrysum ) belongs to the sunflower family ( Asteraceae). The about 600 species are mainly native to the Old World, especially in Southern Africa and Madagascar.
Some species retain in drying the color of the flower baskets and are well suited for dry bouquets. They are also called immortelle. The varieties of some species are suitable as bedding and balcony plants.
Description
Appearance and leaves
Helichrysum grow as one-, two-year to perennial herbaceous plants, subshrubs or shrubs, mostly achieve the stature heights of 20 to 80 centimeters. Many types smell aromatic. They often form taproots. The most upright, sometimes prostrate to ascending stems are hairy, more or less woolly - tomentose and usually also have stalked or sessile glands hair.
The alternate arranged leaves are usually stalked and amplexicaul and / or decurrent. The simple leaf blades are ovate, spatulate to lanceolate or linear with truncated wedge-shaped to Spreitenbasis. The ganzrandige leaf margin is sometimes rolled back. The two leaf pages are colored the same or different rare and usually gray to white tomentose or silky hairy and they have sometimes stalked or sessile glands hair; the upper leaf surface and is then verkahlt sometimes greenish.
Inflorescences and flowers
In schirmtraubigen total inflorescences are more aggregated in balls basket- shaped inflorescences together. The flower heads are more or less disc-shaped. The cup shell ( involucre ) is bell-shaped with a diameter of only 4-8 mm. The standing in usually three to five, rarely up to seven rows of bracts are whitish, straw to pink, red or orange and opaque to translucent and usually shiny. The basket bottom is flat and bare, without chaff leaves.
The petals are yellowish. Marginalized functionally male flowers are missing or are available individually or in pairs. There are 3 to 30, rarely up to 50 internal, hermaphroditic flowers available.
Fruits
The more or less columnar achenes usually have a smooth, sometimes papillary surface that is rough by raised, tile- shaped superimposed peaks of the epidermal cells, and sometimes four to six longitudinal grooves, and they are usually glabrous or rarely hairy. The often early sloping pappus consists of a series of 12 to 20 free or slightly coherent at the base, mostly bearded until rare, almost spring-like bristles. As diaspore the achene is spread.
Chromosome numbers
The basic chromosome number is x = 7
Synecology
Some species are forage plants: Everlasting flower ( Helichrysum arenarium ) for Aethes Williana, Eublemma minutata, Platyptilia tesseradactyla; Garden Helichrysum ( Helichrysum bracteatum ) by Vanessa kershawi; Italian straw flower ( Helichrysum italicum ) for Gypsochares baptodactylus Zeller 1850.
Dissemination
Many species are native to the capensis. Another focus of biodiversity is Australia. Comparatively few species there are in each case in the Mediterranean region, in New Zealand and in the western and central Asia.
System
The genus Helichrysum was established in 1754 with the notation Elichrysum by Philip Miller in The Gardeners Dictionary ... Abridged ... 4th Edition, Volume 2. Type species is Helichrysum orientale (L.) Gaertn. Synonyms for Helichrysum Mill are: . Leontonyx Cass, virginea ( DC.) Nicoli, Virginia ( DC.) Nicoli. The genus name Helichrysum is derived from the Greek words helios for sun and chrysos for gold; helichrysos was among the Greeks a Greek name for a flowering plant in the Asteraceae family.
The genus Helichrysum belongs to the tribe Gnaphalieae in the subfamily herbaceous within the family Asteraceae. The scope of the genus Helichrysum is under discussion, since it has been found that the previous genus is not monophyletic, outsourced genera are as Argentipallium Paul G.Wilson, Castroviejoa Galbany et al., Coronidium Paul G.Wilson, Lawrencella Lindl., Xerochrysum Tzvelev, Ozothamnus R.Br. and Chrysocephalum Walp. with an oceanic distribution.
In the species-rich genus of helichrysum ( Helichrysum ), there are about 600 species. Here is a selection types:
- Helichrysum adenophorum F.Muell.
- Helichrysum amorginum Boiss. & Orph.
- Helichrysum argyrosphaerum DC.
- Helichrysum asperum ( Thunb. ) Hilliard & B.L.Burtt
- Helichrysum aureum ( Houtt. ) Merr.
- Helichrysum bellidioides ( G.Forst. ) Willd.
- Helichrysum blandowskianum Steetz ex Sond.
- Helichrysum cymosum D.Don
- Helichrysum heldreichii Boiss.
- Italian straw flower ( Helichrysum italicum ( Roth) G.Don )
- Helichrysum kirkii Oliv. & Hiern
- Helichrysum leucopsideum DC.
- Helichrysum maracandicum Popov ex Kirp.
- Helichrysum melitense ( Pignatti ) Brullo, Lanfr. , P.Pavone & G.Ronsisvalle
- Helichrysum moeserianum Tell.
- Helichrysum orientale (L.) Gaertn.
- Licorice Helichrysum ( Helichrysum petiolare ) Hilliard & BLBurtt
- Helichrysum plicatum DC.
- Helichrysum sibthorpii Rouy
Swell
- Guy L. Nesom: Helichrysum - text the same online as printed work. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee ( eds.): Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 19: Magnoliophyta: unranked, part 6: Asteraceae, part 1 ( Mutisieae - Anthemideae ), Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford et al 2006, ISBN 0-19-530563-9, p 524 ( section description and systematics)