Pulmonaria officinalis
Lungwort ( Pulmonaria officinalis)
The Spotted lung herb ( Pulmonaria officinalis), also known as Lungwort, belongs to the family Boraginaceae ( Boraginaceae ). Synonyms are Hansel and Gretel, Bach herb, Blue Cowslip, celandine, herb patch, primrose, deer cabbage, chard Hirsch, pants sailors, lung root, Schlotter pants, sister herb, Unequal Sisters, Our love women milkweed.
Description
The Spotted lung herb is a perennial herbaceous plant. The heart - ovate basal leaves are mostly massive, fully developed and undivided. They are yellow green and always have rounded, often sharply defined white patches. The top of the leaves is provided with tiny protuberances sting and only a few bristles, respectively. The non-flowering shoots have ovate leaf blade that can suddenly turn into the stem. They are longer than their 15 -centimeter-long stem.
The fünfzipfelige cup of freshly opened flowers is V-shaped, about twice as long as wide and a maximum divided to the middle. The radiating, 5 -fold corolla is initially red, later turns during anthesis by changing the pH value within the petals to blue to. The flower has a superior ovaries, which is two-leaved and is divided by a false septum in four subjects ( Klausen). Therefore, the part of fruits four-part Klaus fruits are called. The Spotted lung herb blooms from March to May
The Spotted lung herb is diploid and has 2n chromosome number = 14
Ecology
The Spotted lung herb is an evergreen Hemikryptophyt, half rosette plant with rather thin rhizome.
The flowers are usually gay game " stem plate flowers with included anthers and scars ." They are colored red - purple beginning and later violet blue. They have a high UV reflection. The crown remains about six to eight days, after 3-4 days the color changes. The Pollinator - it is at first mainly the langrüsselige Wildbienenart Anthophora acervorum, later, another species from the same genus - prefer the young red flowers, which contain more nectar than the blue. The nectar is protected by a Haarsaum to the relatively small throat shed at the entrance of the corolla tube and accessible account of about 1 centimeter long corolla tube only long-tongued bees and butterflies relatives. Hoverflies feed on the pollen. The flowers are self-sterile and verschiedengrifflig. The flowering period is from March to May
The fruits are Klausen and are provided with a Elaiosom called oil bodies. They are spread by ants. The fruit stalk tilts at maturity to the ground, and the fruit becomes the Selbstaussäer. The type is a light to germinate. Fruit ripening occurs between May and June.
Occurrence
The plant is common in many parts of Europe: west to the Ardennes, north to the Netherlands, Denmark and Central Sweden. You lack in Norway, the British Isles it is only naturalized. To the east you will find the spotted Lungenkraut to central Russia and the Caucasus, south it occurs on the northern Balkans and to central Italy.
The lung herb growing in herb -rich deciduous and mixed forests and their edges from the book lowlands to the mountains to about 1300 meters. In the south it is more common than in the north. It prefers fresh, nutrient -and base- rich, often calcareous, stony or pure clay and loamy soils.
Naming
The name comes from the Latin Pulmonaria pulmo = lung and was first used by Leonhart Fuchs. The Spotted lung herb has been used since the Middle Ages against lung disease. Hildegard of Bingen calls Lung Wurz.
Ingredients
The plant contains, among others, silica, mucilages, saponins, tannins and larger quantities minerals and thus acts antitussive and anti-inflammatory. The flowers contain a dye which belongs to the anthocyanins - it changes with a change in the acidity of the color from red ( acidic) to blue (basic ).