Aronnik Besser

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Aronnik Bessera (lat. Arum besserianum) - a herbaceous flowering perennial plant of the genus Aronnik (Latin Arum), ranked in the Aroid family (Latin Araceae). Aronnik Besser are characteristic of all the main external elements of plants of the genus, in which they differ from most ornamental plants growing in Russian flower gardens. These elements include the inflorescence, which has an original shape, which botanists have appropriated the personal name "spadix"; a protective sheet covering the inflorescence, gracefully embracing the fleshy peduncle with the inflorescence; picturesque spear-shaped leaves and poisonous berries.

What's in your name

The Greek origin of the genus name "Arum" has already been mentioned in the main article, as for the specific epithet "besserianum" (Bessera), it preserves the memory of the Austrian-Russian botanist named Wilibald Gotlibovich Besser (07.07.1774 - 11.10.1842), who made a great contribution to the science of "botany". He owns more than 100 descriptions of new plant species, at that time still unknown to botanists. Besser left to the descendants a herbarium numbering more than sixty thousand sheets, which is kept in Kiev.

Description

Perennial Aronnik Besser is supported by a tuberous root system with branched adventitious roots. The rounded tubers in the center are flattened to form a depression, from which new leaves and a fleshy peduncle will appear on the ground next spring.

Dull green cylindrical leaf petioles covered with purple spots support arrow-lance-shaped large dark green leaves with a sharp nose and wavy edge. The length of the leaves, depending on the conditions of the habitat, varies from eight to sixteen centimeters with the width of the leaf plate from five to thirteen centimeters. The leaves are quite decorative in their own right. They are born from scaly sheaths.

Aronnik Besser has a kind of inflorescence typical for plants, called by botanists "spadix" ("spadix"). Dark purple miniature flowers, surrounding a fleshy peduncle, form a small ear, on which both male and female flowers, distributed by nature on different "floors", fit. The lower floor is assigned to the female flowers, and the male flowers are located in the upper part of the inflorescence. To prevent self-pollination, asexual flowers can be located between them. The ear is protected from the weather by a sheet-cover, also a typical element of the plants of the genus.

The crown of the growing season of Aronnik Besser is the berries that continue to maintain the appearance of the cob, now no longer floral, but fruiting, than the cob becomes even more similar to the cob of corn, only of a more modest size.

Aronnik Besser berries contain toxic alkaloids and pose a threat to human health.

Usage

Aronnik Besser is a very spectacular plant at any time of the year, except for winter, of course, when the ground part of the plant dies off, and the underground tubers are dormant, in order to resume plant life on our beautiful planet in spring.

In spring, the plant pleases gardeners with its picturesque spear-shaped leaves. Almost simultaneously with the leaves, an inflorescence appears, rapidly gaining height in order to rise above large leaves bending to the surface of the earth. The spiral-shaped protective veil, gently embracing the inflorescence, looks amazing.

Aronnik Besser needs a humus-rich soil with good drainage and a place in the shade for successful growth. The plant is propagated both by sowing seeds and vegetatively using underground tubers.

The healing properties of the plant are used in the production of medicines.