Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: Hans J on May 14, 2012, 05:25:44 PM

Title: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 14, 2012, 05:25:44 PM
Hi all ,

last week I had the big luck to visit a habitat of Dictamnus albus ( together with many other interesting plants ) - this area is a protectet nature area here in Germany ....

In this habitat grows also some unusal trees :

Quercus pubescens
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 14, 2012, 05:28:16 PM
near this trees grows Dictamnus  albus  :D
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 14, 2012, 05:30:22 PM
a other unusual plant grows also here :

Colutea arborescens
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 14, 2012, 05:33:23 PM
near the vine yeards we found some Iris and in shade grows Polygonatum
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 14, 2012, 05:35:33 PM
in more sunny parts we found near the way Rosa spec. and Geranium spec.
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 14, 2012, 05:38:54 PM
on the way back to the parking place in a wood we saw many Aquilegia .....and  also a nice beetle ( we call it "Maikäfer)
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 14, 2012, 05:42:48 PM
in this area are many Anemones sylvestris - they grows on slopes

Enjoy
Hans  8)
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 14, 2012, 10:42:53 PM
Lovely plants Hans but a very handsome beetle. I wonder what the iris is, that grows wild in the vineyards? Our grape harvest is just finished here and I'm eating lots of Pinot Noir grapes from one of my market vendors. ;D
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: angie on May 14, 2012, 10:55:43 PM
Lovely pictures Hans but you spoiled it by putting that creepy crawly in  ;D

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 14, 2012, 11:21:14 PM
No No, creepy crawlies add character - and a shiver down the spine. ;D
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Stephenb on May 15, 2012, 07:34:38 AM
Interesting to see wild Dictamnus! Thanks for posting.  What part of Germany is this, Hans?

I've always wondered why it's called D. albus? Isn't the pinkish variety the most common colour? Perhaps the first to be discovered was white flowered?
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 15, 2012, 07:58:14 AM
Lesley and Angie : do you mean this beetle ?
They makes a lot of trouble for the farmers - special the larvae -please read :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melolontha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melolontha)

Stephen :
like you I was also wondered why this plant are calling "albus" ...in Wiki I have found it :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictamnus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictamnus)
In the german version is descript that the rhizomes have white color so the botanists call it ALBUS
By my visit I could not see any white flowering plants ...but I know nurseries are selling these plants
This habitat is in the southern part of germany...I will not give more exactly informations :-X

Hans
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Gerdk on May 15, 2012, 09:29:33 AM
Hans, you live in a preferred region of our country with a lot of botanical ' hot spots '.
I hope you didn't touch the Dictamnus plants because this may cause serious skin irritation.

Gerd
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Armin on May 15, 2012, 09:44:40 AM
Hans,
thanks for the images. I enjoyed.
The Quercus pubescens is not a common tree here, just in one of a public garden we have a few samples growing.

The Dictamus in the wild is lovely. How was the scent, like lemon? Is it as strong as written in the literature?
I tried it in my garden origin from garden center but it failed twice.
Don't know what I made wrong. :-\
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 15, 2012, 10:06:11 AM
Hans, you live in a preferred region of our country with a lot of botanical ' hot spots '.
I hope you didn't touch the Dictamnus plants because this may cause serious skin irritation.

Gerd

Thank you Gerd ,

no I have not touched the Dictamnus ( I read before about it )
You are right - I live really in a good region with many interesting plants and animals - here are also Wiedehopf , Bienenfresser, Pirol, Smaragdeidechse ....not far from me are many orchids

Hans
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 15, 2012, 10:15:41 AM
Hans,
thanks for the images. I enjoyed.
The Quercus pubescens is not a common tree here, just in one of a public garden we have a few samples growing.

The Dictamus in the wild is lovely. How was the scent, like lemon? Is it as strong as written in the literature?
I tried it in my garden origin from garden center but it failed twice.
Don't know what I made wrong. :-\

Thank you Armin ,

Yes  - Q.pubescens is a really rare plant -it grows normaly in the mediterranean region ( also like Coleutus )
I have not smell anything but maybe it was to early in the morning ....on this day we had here a temperature of 31° !!!
Like you I had the same idea with growing this plant in our garden ...I will buy by my next visit such a plant !
To the conditions in nature :
The soil is very calcy ( Lös ) and the plants was growing on a slope in west direction( very good drainage !
they grows between the oaks ( maybe because the shade )...I hope this helps you a bit

Hans
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: angie on May 15, 2012, 11:23:04 AM
Lesley and Angie : do you mean this beetle ?
They makes a lot of trouble for the farmers - special the larvae -please read :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melolontha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melolontha)
Hans

Hans I don't like any kind of beasties, I am terrified of worms. I know they are good for the garden but they give me the creeps.

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 15, 2012, 11:31:29 AM
Hi Angie ,

"Maikaefer" are nice animals ( the farmers speak other )
When I was a child we catch them and hold it in boxes ( with a little food = leaves of Beeches ).....now they are rare ...I have since long time not more seen in my garden - we have only Junikaefer ( they are a little smaller and they comes in June )
The goverment is spraying in some areas here against this beetles  :-\

Do you know Hirschkaefer ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucanus_cervus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucanus_cervus)
they are in the same area like the Dictamnus ....

Hans
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: angie on May 15, 2012, 11:41:36 AM
Hi Hans

I hope we don't have Hirschkaefer here in Scotland, now thats not creepy thats scary. Never understood why you boys liked keeping all those creepy crawlies. I remember in our street we had this horrible boy and he used to throw worms at me but one day I punched him and he never did it again  :o. I was only eight then. I always wonder what happened to that horrible boy. I think thats the reason how I am scared of worms.

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Maggi Young on May 15, 2012, 11:58:50 AM
I think that the Hirschkaefer ( Stag Beetle) is  getting more rare all the time  in the UK and is not likely to come sneaking up on us here, Angela.... what a relief! :D (they can get up to 3 inches/ 8cm) long!) :P
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hans J on May 15, 2012, 12:06:36 PM
Angie +Maggi ,

Hirschkäfer live only in warm climates ...i think Scotland is to cold for them
Before many years I had a "Nashornkaefer" here in my garden ....we have also sometimes "Gottesanbeterin" here :o
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_rhinoceros_beetle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_rhinoceros_beetle)

Angie :
When I was a boy so Ihave to help my grandpa with collecting worms for fishing - later when I was self fishing I must prepare my fishing hooks with worms  ;D

Hans
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Stephenb on May 16, 2012, 08:48:24 AM
Stephen :
like you I was also wondered why this plant are calling "albus" ...in Wiki I have found it :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictamnus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictamnus)
In the german version is descript that the rhizomes have white color so the botanists call it ALBUS
By my visit I could not see any white flowering plants ...but I know nurseries are selling these plants
This habitat is in the southern part of germany...I will not give more exactly informations :-X

OK!! I did wonder if there was something else white, but it didn't occur to me that it was the roots - you learn something every day!

Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Hoy on May 16, 2012, 12:10:18 PM
Shouldn't surprise you, Stephen. The roots have always been important. Think of Helleborus niger ;)
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Stephenb on May 18, 2012, 08:56:16 AM
Well, Trond, I didn't know that either... I've never had that much interest in medicinal plants, apart from the food is medicine kind, so it's never occurred to me. One of the attractions of plants (and their interactions with people) is that there'll always be more to learn than one already knows..... Now, I'll be more aware of the alba / niger epithets!
Title: Re: Dictamnus albus in the wild
Post by: Gerdk on May 18, 2012, 10:21:16 AM
Concerning Helleborus roots: The old romans used the dried roots to make a powder in order to cause sneezing.
They believed that sneezing was good to get clear-headed. So someone who needed a lot of this powder was
called a 'helleborosus'. In German Helleborus is called 'Nieswurz' (Sneezingwort).

Gerd
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal