Silphium perfoliatum

Inconsistent Silphie ( Silphium perfoliatum )

The Inconsistent Silphie ( Silphium perfoliatum ) is a native to North America plant from the sunflower family ( Asteraceae). It is a perennial and perennial plant that can be grown as an energy crop because of their high biomass production.

Features

The Inconsistent Silphie reaches a height of up to three meters. It has square stems with wide internodes. The leaves are medium green, serrated on the leaf margin, entire, lanceolate, to constantly and hairy. Noticeable here are the overgrown on the stem, leaf pairs that form in this way small " cup " in which collects dew and rainwater. This feature leads to the spread in the English language name cup plans to German " cup plant". Due to this property, the Inconsistent Silphie is adapted to dry habitats because they can use the water supply during dry periods for itself. The inflorescences contain ( as with most Korbblütern ) tubes and ray florets. The ray florets are yellow. The inflorescences are single, terminal, 6-8 cm in size and relatively small in relation to the considerable growth height. The flowering period extends from July to September. Propagation is by seed, sown from April, prolonged cooling period for germination are favorable. In agriculture, the planting of vigorous young plants is sometimes preferred because the seed is not quite as smoothly runs under intensive culture and often leads to defects in the inventory.

Dissemination

The Inconsistent Silphie originates from the temperate zone of North America and is common in the eastern states of the USA and Canada.

Use

Use as fodder plants

In Germany it is grown on individual farms as feed and silage plant. When allotment gardeners, it is popular by its extensive cultivation and longevity as a useful plant. Similarly, when beekeepers because Korbblütler for bees and other insects are interesting. Pets such as rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep or goats she is an excellent forage.

Use as an energy crop

The Inconsistent Silphie has so far been cultivated as a useful plant for research purposes only. It is regarded as a potential energy crop and is particularly interesting because of their adaptation to dry habitats because they, unlike, say, corn, can obtain their moisture not only from the ground, but also from the leaf cups. In addition, it is characterized by a high biomass and high biogas yield, which is comparable to energy maize. Thus, the Inconsistent Silphie produced in cultivation from the second year 13 to 20 tons of biomass per hectare of cultivated land. In experiments in Thuringia yields 18-28 t dry matter were obtained from the second prior year.

Since the Inconsistent Silphie in North America occurs in comparable with the Central European climate conditions areas and longer periods of cold weather without incurring damage, they can be assembled easily in Europe. They can be harvested in regularly over a period of at least ten years. The perennial nature of Silphie offers other advantages over the corn. Due to the shading of the soil by the foliage herbicides are not needed from the second year of cultivation. In addition, a soil erosion is substantially avoided.

However, the cost in the first year of planting are relatively high. A no-till the current state of the art is not recommended, as the young plants are not yet strong enough to compete against weeds. Instead, a precultured planting seedlings is recommended. Even in the first year weed control is necessary because the plants initially only form a rosette of leaves on the ground and remain competitive weak. Since no pesticides nor approved for Silphie, weeds shall be controlled with a mechanical hoe. The high cost in the first year of cultivation are so far provided is a barrier for growing in practice, even if they fall through the low cost in subsequent years and the long lifetime of little economic consequence.