Archive for category: Plant knowledge

Birches in Central Europe
In Central Europe, there are four native species of birch. Three of them prefer moorland habitats: the dwarf birch (Betula nana), the shrub birch (Betula humilis), and the bog birch (Betula pubescens), also known as downy birch. The fourth species, the silver birch (Betula pendula), in contrast to its sisters, is particularly drought-resistant and thus widespread in other locations. In 2023, the bog birch was chosen as the Tree of the Year. But why?

Bog Birch
The bog birch is a pioneer that can quickly colonize treeless, raw soils. It prefers cold and marshy locations, as well as plenty of light. Under the shelter of its sparse leaf canopy, future tree species in the forest can grow, and due to its short life span, it gives way to established species after about 100 years. However, in high moors, at the tree line in the Alps, or on talus slopes in the mountains, one can find bog birches that permanently populate these sites, not just as initial colonizers. These habitats are characterized by a vast biodiversity, hosting beetle, cicada, bug, wasp, and butterfly species specialized in bog birches and bog birch forests. Additionally, various birch fungi and mushroom species symbiotically associate with bog birches.

Tree of the Year
Every year in Germany, the “Tree of the Year – Dr. Silvius Wodarz Foundation” designates a specific tree species as the “Tree of the Year.” This proclamation aims to generate a particular interest in the selected tree species, trees in general, and the concerns of nature and environmental protection. The bog birch was chosen as the Tree of the Year to raise awareness about the decline of bogs. Over 90 percent of the original bog areas in Germany have already been drained, mainly to gain agricultural land. Original bog birch forests are therefore considered highly endangered and are now legally protected nationwide.

A New Badge for You!

If you identify a bog birch using the Flora Incognita app this year, you will be rewarded with the “Tree of the Year 2023” badge!

This article was featured as a story in the Flora-Incognita app in autumn 2023. The app provides fascinating information about plants, ecology, species identification, as well as tips and tricks for plant identification. Feel free to explore!

Flowing waters constitute a significant ecological habitat. Plants residing here are adapted to the year-round influence of freshwater. The quality of flowing water, the diversity of currents, and the dynamics of water levels profoundly shape the ecosystem. The richer the habitat, the greater the variety of plants and animals it supports.

By the Water’s Edge

At the water’s edge and on embankments, various plant families thrive. Many of these plants have narrow, elongated leaves. Well-known examples include the Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus) and the Water Avens (Geum rivale), which bloom in late spring. From June to early September, you can find Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) and Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria). In reed beds, you’ll find Branched Bur-reed (Sparganium erectum) and Narrow-leaved Reedmace (Typha angustifolia). On the damp shoreline, species typical of wetlands can be found, such as Marsh Woundwort (Stachys palustris).

Underwater

Submerged aquatic plants grow within the water. They root in the waterbed and develop leaves underwater. However, their flowers and floating leaves reach the surface. In spring, in the cool temperatures of streams and rivers, these plants might not be very noticeable. But as the year progresses, leaves and flowers become evident. One typical species is the Floating Water Crowfoot (Ranunculus fluitans), characterizing an entire plant community. Other aquatic species include Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia), Water Starwort (Callitriche), and pondweeds like Floating Pondweed (Potamogeton natans).

Habitat Protection

Habitats along and within water bodies are delicate and vulnerable. Diversity is impacted by activities such as bank and riverbed stabilization, over-fertilization, drainage, channelization, low water levels, and improper maintenance. In Germany, the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) advocates for the enhancement and protection of sensitive habitats along flowing waters. The regional chapter in Saxony, as part of the “Sustainable Recovery” initiative by the Saxon Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Agriculture, and the Environment, is examining the potential for second-order watercourses in the rural areas of the Free State. The project aims to provide recommendations for landowners, residents, conservation organizations, and dedicated citizens.

This article was featured in the Flora-Incognita app as a story in the summer of 2023. The app provides intriguing information about plants, ecology, species identification, as well as tips and tricks for plant identification. Why not take a look?

Habitat of nutrient-poor shallow water

The Floristic-Sociological Working Group declared the highly threatened Littorelletea uniflorae p.p. as the German plant community 2023. They were formerly quite common in the vicinity of clear, shallow heathland pools on sandy and gravelly raw soils or peaty substrates – inconspicuous and well adapted to the special requirements of the amphibious habitat.  Due to human interventions such as nutrient inputs and drainage, as well as the consequences of climate change, Littorelletea uniflorae p.p. is now highly endangered. Many of their habitats have already been lost or significantly reduced. Due to their rarity and need for protection, Littorelletea uniflorae p.p. has also been included in the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive of the European Union.

Composition

The plants live near the shore, in a narrow strip between reed beds and deeper water, completely submerged or periodically dry. Water level fluctuations support the development of Littorelletea uniflorae p.p. The plant community is named after the European shoreweed Littorella uniflora (also known as Plantago uniflora depending on taxonomy). It is accompanied by the even rarer delicate white-flowered water lobelia Lobelia dortmanna and the lake quillwort Isoëtes lacustris, which belongs to the quillwort family and is already extinct in parts of Germany (Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg). However, the plant community also includes more commonly found species such as bulbous rush Juncus bulbosus or marsh pennywort Hydrocotyle vulgaris.

Isoëtes

The dominant representatives of this group of plants are also classified as low-growing basic shoot plants (Isoëtes). They all share a strong and enduring basal rosette of narrow leaves with well-developed aerenchyma, which is air-conducting tissue. This adaptation to life in water allows the storage of air in the tissue, giving the leaves buoyancy. This growth form enables the plants to withstand seasonal, pronounced water level fluctuations: longer flooding in the winter months, but also enduring dry periods in late summer.

Finding Littorelletea uniflorae

Fluctuating water levels in very nutrient-poor stagnant waters are rare in Germany, and in combination with the inconspicuous appearance of most species, stumbling upon a population of Littorelletea uniflorae p.p. is highly unlikely. Interestingly, there are old reservoir structures in the heart of Germany where you can find them easily. In the Upper Harz region, in the Clausthal-Zellerfeld area, about 65 dams and water bodies were created between the 16th and 18th centuries. 35 of them are classified as reservoirs and are now operated with fluctuating water levels for nature conservation reasons, long after the end of their economic use. Here, extensive Littorelletea uniflorae p.p. can be found, as well as the equally rare dwarf rush communities with sea strapwort Corrigiola litoralis, Illecebrum verticillatum, or water mudwort Limosella aquatica. If you find Littorella uniflorae p.p., you can collect the badge for the plant community 2023!

For more information, visit the Floristic-Sociological Working Group website: https://www.tuexenia.de/en/events/plant-community-of-the-year/.

This article was featured in the Flora-Incognita app as a story in the summer of 2023. The app provides intriguing information about plants, ecology, species identification, as well as tips and tricks for plant identification. Why not take a look?

When we think of midsummer, we might hear the buzzing of insects, the chirping of birds, or the joyful laughter of children fully enjoying their summer vacations. Midsummer brings us a plethora of outdoor activities and unforgettable moments that will hopefully stay with us for a long time. However, climate change does not spare changes in nature. It is crucial to document specific key points every year to make these changes visible. So, let’s take a closer look at what characterizes the phenological midsummer:

Linden Trees in Bloom

The blossoming of linden trees marks the beginning of midsummer. To differentiate them from winter linden trees, you can examine the leaf hairs: the summer linden has small white hairs on the entire underside of the leaves and on the branches, while the winter linden is only hairy on the veins and in the vein angles on the underside of the leaves. Linden flowers can be collected for tea, and due to their high sugar content in nectar, they are also an essential late food source for many insects.

Ripening of Currants

Ripe currants are the first sweet summer fruits that can be “wildly” harvested in Central Europe. However, modern cultivated varieties are no longer identical to the original Ribes rubrum. To enhance the aroma and optimize cultivation, other currant species were crossed (or the color: White currants are just a color variant of the red ones). Black currants (Ribes nigrum), incidentally, are closer relatives to gooseberries than to red currants and ripen slightly later, depending on the cultivation. The bushes of black currants have a smell that some find “unpleasant.” Nevertheless, an important perfume extract is obtained from the flower buds!

Harvesting Sweet Cherries

Sweet cherries (Prunus avium), also known as bird cherries (the species name reveals it!), belong to the rose family. Particularly popular among children and those with a sweet tooth are the well-known cultivated forms, such as the heart cherry (Prunus avium subsp. juliana), because the wild form Prunus avium L. subsp. avium has tiny, black, and bittersweet fruits. It typically thrives in oak-hornbeam mixed forests and can grow up to over 20m in height. The ripening of cultivated sweet cherries is a significant indicator of midsummer. In 2021, Germany recorded 27,340 tons, Austria 6,210 tons, and Switzerland 4,415 tons of harvest – for comparison: Turkey leads the list of the world’s largest sweet cherry producers with an annual production of 689,834 tons.

Barley Harvest Time

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) belongs to the grass family (Poaceae). With an impressive cultivation history of around 10,000 years, it is one of the cornerstones of European agriculture. Winter barley plays a significant role in phenology. Sown in autumn, it thrives initially in a pleasant 10°C and is often the first crop harvested from the fields, even before other cereal crops. This harvest time is another indicator of midsummer. In Germany, winter barley is cultivated on approximately 1.24 million hectares, while spring barley thrives on only about 0.5 million hectares. Overall, Germany harvests about 10 to 12 million tons of barley annually.

This article was featured in the Flora-Incognita app as a story in the summer of 2023. The app provides intriguing information about plants, ecology, species identification, as well as tips and tricks for plant identification. Why not take a look?

Phenological season: Mid spring

The German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst – DWD) uses the flowering of forsythia and the beginning of leaf development of gooseberry as indicators for mid spring. In the next weeks, fruit trees open their flowers (cherry, pear) and beech and birch start growing their leaves. To monitor mid spring, we’d love for you to capture the following species by ID’ing them with the Flora Incognita app! Please make sure that your GPS is shared so that we can record your plants’ locations. Thank you!

Wood Anemone – Anemone nemorosa
The wood anemone often grows in large numbers in beech or mixed forests. Even if its flowers attract the first insects, the wood anemone mainly disperses vegetatively – its 30-centimetre-long, creeping rhizome lies about 1 cm below the surface of the soil. Be careful: All plant parts are poisonous!

Coltsfoot – Tussilago farfara
The coltsfoot forms a yellow inflorescence in early spring. Only after they have withered, the large kidney-shaped leaves begin to appear. While still blooming, the small brownish scaly leaves can be photographed as leaves for the app. It may not seem like a special plant, but their flowers are an important marker in terms of phenological monitoring.

Lesser Celandine – Ficaria verna
Lesser celandine or pilewort appears in early spring in various places. Some individuals show brown drawings on their leaves. The blooming period stretches over a long time, in most years until May. What we’re interested in is where and when the first flowers of lesser celandine appear, so look out for it, please!”

Blackthorn – Prunus spinosa
Blackthorn is also often called sloe. Its pure white flowers can be found on forest edges or shrubberies, where the medium-sized bush with its long thorns creates an ideal hiding space for birds. The blue berries ripen late in the year and are usually harvested after the first frost because the cold reduces the bitterness of the fruits. We‘d like to record the phenology of the blackthorn flowering stage and be happy if you contributed.

Even in cities, early bloomers get off to a fast start: warm street pavements ensure that there is already something to discover in many places! Here are a few examples:

• Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) – Adapted to disturbed soils, it fruits within a few weeks and then catapults its seeds up to 1.4 metres!
• Draba verna, the spring draba, is a short-lived, few centimetres tall tiny plant among Central European flowering plants. It loves light, lean, dry sites and often mass populates pavement cracks in spring.
• The stinking hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) is named after the unpleasant smell of its leaves. An exciting fact: yeast cultures in the nectar ensure that the temperature in the flower can be up to 6 °C above that of the surrounding area!
• The genus speedwell (Veronica) comprises about 450 species, of which about 50 occur in Germany. The species of the genus are usually quite small, have blue flowers and many of them bloom very early in the year.
• There are also early bloomers among the grasses. Sesleria varia is widespread throughout Germany. However, it only grows on calcareous soils such as stony, dry grasslands. It flowers from March to May.
• Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) blossoms in March/April, even earlier in mild areas. The flowers, rich in nectar and pollen, are the first food for honey bees and wild bees, in addition to the willow. In autumn, their fruits are very popular with songbirds.