Salicornia
European samphire ( Salicornia europaea)
Samphire ( Salicornia ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae ( Amaranthaceae ). A characteristic common feature is their dickfleischiges appearance. You are colonizers often flooded soils watts of seashores.
Etymology
The genus name is of Latin origin and means Salicornia sal, salis for salt and Cornu for Horn; This refers to the often hornlike curved transom ends. Another German name for samphire is glass enamel or glass lard. This name comes from the fact that earlier the ashes of this plant for the manufacture of soda used, which was used in the fusion of glass. The ash of the samphire may contain up to 15% sodium carbonate. Also popularly called Fries herb.
Description and ecology
The Queller is the only salt marsh plant that is not viable without salt intake. The plant accumulates salt ions from the soil to overcome the osmotic suction of salt soil and absorb water. However, the salt content of the plant increases. To compensate she takes on additional water in their tissues to regulate the concentration of salt tolerable. The lifetime is therefore limited to six months until the plant eventually dies.
Therefore, Queller year, stem succulent halophytes ( halophytes ). The plant parts are smooth. The stems grow prostrate to ascending, and are easy to multiply depending on the type branched. Young plants are fleshy and articulated divided up knotty; older specimens may be slightly lignified. The deciduous leaves are arranged. The leaf blades are reduced to scales and forms fleshy, the stem axis comprehensive segments.
The inconspicuous inflorescences ( cymes ) are terminally at each rung. Usually two to three flowers are sunk in depressions between a tiny bract and the main axis. The hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry. There are three fleshy bracts and up to two stamens present. The seeds are yellowish - brown, thin and hairy.
Use
The plants are edible and tasty, albeit quite salty and more available in the dining area or in the wholesale. In the Netherlands, Queller is under the name Zeekraal available in the supermarket. He blanched, sautéed, or eaten raw, and is very popular, for example as an accompaniment to fish and a salad.
Also wintering geese ( Anserinae ) serves as food Queller, in Europe especially the Barnacle Goose and Brent Goose.
Occurrence
Samphire growing along the sea coasts of the northern hemisphere. Occasionally, they also grow at inland salt sites. You prefer salty moist to wet, occasionally flooded sites on silt or sand.
Salicornia bigelovii Illustration
Habit
European samphire ( Salicornia europaea) in autumn
System
A satisfactory taxonomy of the genus has not yet been developed. Reasons are the succulence and the strongly reduced morphology of the species. Dried specimens can hardly be determined with certainty, as they lose the characteristic features. A cultivation of the plants under laboratory conditions seems as difficult as the hydrological conditions ( temporary over irrigation, water saturation of the soil, salt concentrations) are hardly imitable appropriately.
Overall, the genus Salicornia comprises about ten species (selection):
- European samphire ( Salicornia europaea agg. )
- Salicornia maritima S.L.Wolff & Jefferies
- Salicornia bigelovii Torrey
- Salicornia depressa Standley
- Salicornia rubra A.Nelson