Physalis alkekengi
Lampionblume (Physalis alkekengi )
The Chinese lantern plant (Physalis alkekengi ) is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental plant species of the genus of Physalis (Physalis ) in the nightshade family (Solanaceae ). The name is derived from the lantern -like calyx that surrounds the fruit and is intensely colored when ripe.
- 4.1 sources
Description
Appearance and foliage leaf
The Chinese lantern plant is a deciduous, perennial herbaceous plant, reaching heights of growth of 40 to 80 centimeters. Their rhizomes are hardy in Central Europe. The upright, but also partly prostrate, at its base, sometimes slightly woody stems are dull -edged, little branched, and usually hairy fluffy. Breeds, such as the variety Physalis alkekengi var franchetii can reach stature heights of up to 100 cm.
Most are two leaves together. The petiole has a length of 1 to 3 cm. The simple leaf blade is broadly ovate acuminate with a length of 5 to 15 cm and a width of 2 to 8 cm narrow to blunt scalene Spreitenbasis and above. The leaf margin is smooth, coarsely toothed or lobed, sometimes strikingly unequal delta shaped. The Blattfächen are hairy hairless or downy.
Flower, fruit and seeds
The flowering period extends from July to October. The 0.6 to 1.6 cm long flower stems are bare, fluffy or shaggy haired and slightly bent, so that the rather inconspicuous flowers hang down. The solitary flowers are hermaphrodite, fünfzählig, almost radial symmetry with a double perianth. The five about 6 mm long sepals are bell-shaped and grown densely hairy fluffy. The five petals are fused bell - up wheel-shaped, having a diameter of 1.5 to 2 cm and are white with greenish or yellowish eye. The five stamens are yellow. There is an above -earth, zweikammeriger ovary and a thready - cylindrical, upward slightly thickened pen available.
After fertilization of the flower petals, the first to be dropped. Subsequently, the five somewhat leathery sepals enlarge with increasing fruit maturity, so that they close and almost one with a length of 2.5 to 4 cm and a width of 2 to 3.5 cm ovoid, lantern -like, zehnrippigen chalice to the evolving form berry. At maturity, these shell changes color depending on the variety, yellow, orange or bright red.
The fruit stalk has a length of 2 to 3 cm. The glossy, orange to scarlet, sour, bitter berries have a diameter of about 1 to 1.5 cm. They contain a large number of orange to yellowish- white, kidney-shaped lens to seeds having a diameter of about 2 mm.
Dissemination
The area of origin of the Chinese lantern plant is no longer safe to be determined. She probably comes from the sub-Mediterranean -Eurasian air space, so it is native to southeastern Europe and western Asia. But perhaps it is also from China. The species was introduced to other parts of the world, for example in the northeastern United States.
The Chinese lantern plant is considered to be modest, but prefers loose, slightly calcareous soil. It is rare outside of gardens in dry thickets to find warm lowland forests, rocky slopes and vineyards. Once planted, the underground rhizomes lead to a rapid spread.
Use
After the fruit- maturity, the plant will use as a cut flower, the stems with red lanterns are often used in dried bouquets.
The seeds provide a semi-drying, fatty oil.
Green parts of the plant are slightly poisonous, they contain bitter substances that can cause irritation of the gastrointestinal tract. About the edibility of the berries have different opinions. According to several authors, the ripe fruit is said to be edible, others gradually they "gift suspicious" as a. The fruits offered as Cape gooseberries Physalis peruviana are those of the Lampionblume similar but larger and less intensely colored.
Varieties
- Physalis alkekengi L. var Alkekengi ( Syn: Physalis alkekengi var anthoxantha H.Léveillé, P. orientalis var Alkekengi Pampanini, P. ciliata Siebold & Zuccarini, P. kansuensis Pojarkova )
- Physalis alkekengi var franchetii ( Masters) Makino ( Syn: Physalis franchetii Masters, P. Alkekengi var glabripes ( Pojarkova ) Grubov, P. franchetii var bunyardii Makino, P. glabripes Pojarkova, P. praetermissa Pojarkova, P. szechuanica Pojarkova )
Swell
- Zhi- Yun Zhang, Anmin Lu & William G. D' Arcy: Solanaceae in the Flora of China, Volume 17, p 311: Physalis alkekengi - Online. ( Description section )