Lamium maculatum

Spotted dead nettle ( Lamium maculatum )

The Spotted dead nettle ( Lamium maculatum ) is a plant belonging to the genus of deadnettles ( Lamium ) belongs within the family Lamiaceae ( Lamiaceae). She is not related to the nettle. The name derives from both the scientific as well as their German trivial name applies the spotted lower lip.

• 2.1 Pollination Ecology
• 2.2 dispersal ecology

• 6.1 Notes and references

Description

Appearance

The highly variable Spotted dead nettle usually grows as a perennial herbaceous plant, rarely as an annual summer plant. It is summer or winter green green. Your plant height varies between 20 and 80 cm. The flowering size is given in the first year of growth. It forms above and pale underground runners. The Spotted dead nettle has a bottom often bald, otherwise sparse white hairs protruding, often red tarnished and branched only at the base, four-sided, hollow stems. The four stems edges are stiffened by collenchyma.

The crosswise against constantly arranged leaves are dark green and form in their leaf center, especially in winter, a whitish longitudinal stripes from. They have about 4 cm long petioles, with the lower leaves petiolate longer than the above are what is interpreted as an adaptation to unfavorable light conditions. The soft hairy leaf blade is about 8 cm long. Their shape varies from ovate - triangular to heart-shaped, the blade tip, the leaf blade runs long acuminate. The leaf margin has a rough double perforation.

Inflorescence and flower

The mostly purple, rarely white lip flowers of the plant are formed in the leaf axils of the upper leaf pairs and there are two to eight flowers summarized in Scheinquirlen arranged. The Scheinquirle are usually above the other in three to eight floors. The flower of spotted dead nettle contains calyx and corolla. The green calyx has five nearly equal teeth and is almost at the bottom ungefleckt. The deep pink to purple colored crown is about 20 to 30 mm long. The corolla tube has a characteristic upward curvature. Inside it is provided with a horizontal hair ring. The upper lip is designed helmet-shaped, the dreizipfelige lower lip has a distinctive spot pattern that partially interpreted as Saftmal, points the way to the nectar. The four stamens, two long and two shorter, the Kronoberlippe not protrude, they end just below her. The stamens incline together usually. You wear violet-brown dust bag containing orange to red pollen. The upper permanent ovary consists of two carpels and is divided by a real and fake septum almost to the base into four compartments, between which the seemingly undergraduate stylus crowned by two scars is. It flowers usually from April to November.

Fruit

The Klaus fruit decomposes at maturity in four one-seeded fruit part, referred to as Klausen. These possess a basal body oil.

Ecology

The Spotted dead nettle usually grows as a perennial, often evergreen Hemikryptophyt and stem plant. rarely as scramblers. The optimal use of natural light is achieved by the fact that the lower leaves are stalked longer than the upper

Pollination Ecology

The flower of spotted dead nettle flower counts biologically to the type of Homo dragons authentics lip flower. Signal effect on pollinators has the highly scented and provided with juice painting the lower lip. Juice Male flowers have to center, where the base of the sugar- rich Krohn tube nectar (42%) is released, which is only long-tongued insects accessible. As typical pollinators act bumblebees. Erdbienen bite the corolla tube sometimes laterally on to get to the nectar. As nectar robbers they do not serve pollination. When Einkriechen the pollinator in the corolla tube, the upper lip moves articulated to the rear. Stigma and anthers touch so successively the back of the insect.

Dispersal ecology

The Klausen are usually ants, which are from the oily appendage, the Elaiosom, lured, abducted and visited. In addition to the ants spread the spotted dead nettle also has the possibility of self- propagation. By becoming dry during fruit ripening cup voltages are generated in the pericarp, so that Selbstausstreuung takes place.

Through its foothills is the spotted dead nettle also vegetative propagation, a form of self- propagation in the broad sense, is possible.

Occurrence

The Spotted dead nettle is native to all of Central and Southern Europe, as well as Western and Asia Minor. It comes in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, northern Spain, Portugal, in the former Czechoslovakia, the former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, the European part of Russia, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, western Syria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, in the Caucasus foothills, Dagestan and in China in the provinces of Gansu and Xinjiang ago.

The Spotted dead nettle prefers fresh to moist waste places. They are found in semi-shade of bushes and hedges, forest fringes, walls and ditches, as well as in fresh deciduous forests. It is found from the plains at altitudes of about 2000 meters.

System

The first publication of Lamium maculatum was made in 1763 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, Editio Secunda, 2, pp. 809 synonyms for maculatum Lamium L. are: . Lamium maculatum L. var album, Lamium laevigatum auct, Lamium maculatum var kansuense CYWu & SJHsuan. The specific epithet maculatum is derived from the Latin word for spotted maculatus.

Use

The stems and leaves of spotted dead nettle can be consumed as rich in content wild vegetables. It is also suitable for planting in natural gardens and is for this purpose in many cultivars, such as panaschiert drawn.

Swell

• Xi -wen Li & Ian C. Hedge: Lamiaceae: Lamium maculatum, pp. 158 - text the same online as printed work, In: Wu Zheng -yi and Peter H. Raven (eds.): Flora of China, Volume 17 - Verbenaceae through Solanaceae, Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis, 1994. ISBN 0-915279-24- X.
• Ruprecht Duell, Herfried Kutzelnigg: Pocket Dictionary of Plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common central European species in the portrait. 7, revised and expanded edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1.