Teucrium chamaedrys
Precious germander ( Teucrium chamaedrys )
The precious germander, Real germander or the sheep herb ( Teucrium chamaedrys ) is a Labiatae ( Lamiaceae) from the kind of germander ( Teucrium ).
Description
The precious germander is a subshrub with streamers. The stem is 10 to 30 ( to 35) cm high, ascending, woody in the lower part, branched below, around or on the opposite sides adjacent short and long hairs protruding. The leaves are short- stalked or nearly sessile, oval, often with a wedge-shaped verschmälertem leaf base, usually hairy on both sides of each leaf page with four to eight obtuse or acute teeth.
The flowers are stalked about 3 mm long, about one to six in the axils of the upper leaves, and are einseitswendig. The calyx is 6-8 mm long, more or less regularly pentadentate, hairy, often crowded red-violet. The corolla is 1 to 1.5 cm long, pink (rarely white). The partial fruits have a thin-core surface and are about 1.5 to 2 mm long. The plant smells pleasantly aromatic.
In Germany we distinguish two subspecies:
- Broadleaf precious germander ( Teucrium chamaedrys ssp. Chamaedrys )
And the
- Narrow- precious germander ( Teucrium chamaedrys ssp. Anglicum ).
Occurrence
The precious Gamander grows scattered and usually gregarious in sunny lime - poor grassland and in light oak and pine forests. He loves base-rich, ultra- low-nitrogen soil and is a Trockniszeiger and a heat -loving plant light. In southern Germany it is more strongly represented (Alpine and 110? M above sea level ).
Ecology
The precious germander is only at the base of woody, creeping shrub. It is adapted to drought and rooted to 1.2 m deep, its leaves are dense and evergreen and its stem is hairy shaggy. The plant is rich in perspiration -inhibiting essential oils.
The flowers are vormännliche " Actual lip Flowers" and are available in four to sechsblütigen Scheinquirlen in the axils of the upper leaves. The corolla is short and has no hair ring; it is bright with a short two-column upper lip, which is connected to the lower lip, so that it is apparently fünfspaltig. The flowers are slightly fragrant. The stamens are initially forward, later - when the stylus has - after forward directed above. The pollen is rosy. The species is a nectar dispenser of special value. Pollinators are bumblebees, bees and hoverflies. Spontaneous self-pollination is only little success. Flowering period: July to September.
The Klausen- fruits are surrounded to maturity from the inflated calyx, which serves as a wind passage. The plant is a wind spreader, possibly an animal shakers.
Vegetative propagation is done by long projections that are formed after flowering. The rootstock drives every year 2 generations leafy stems, of which only the second generation gets to blossom.
Use
The precious germander was formerly used in folk medicine in intermittent fevers and gout.
After taking the drug as a tea for weight loss in the meantime liver damage was known, so that you as a medicinal plant discourages the use of precious Gagmander today. Furano -neo - Clerodane be held responsible for the toxic effect.