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Silene acaulis stemless from the clove family; Upernavik , West Greenland . The species is common in the subarctic regions of Eurasia and North America , forms mossy pillows about five centimeters high. The plant growth rate is extremely low - from 0.1 to 2 cm per year. |
Pillow plants , or pillow- shaped plants , or pillow-shaped plants are the life form of plant organisms , which is characterized by numerous short, intensely branching shoots , without a pronounced main trunk, between which a substrate consists of dead parts of the plant and is characterized by a peculiar, round, pillow-like form. The annual growth of all shoots is the same and insignificant in size [1] . They belong to different families and genera ( azorella - to the family of umbelliferous, the breaker - to the family of primrose). Usually they grow in areas with extremely adverse climatic and soil conditions, in lit open habitats - in the tundra, deserts, mountains, and ocean coasts.
Content
The place of pillow plants in the system of life forms
According to ecologist and researcher Robert Bjork , cushion-like plants create an additional habitat necessary for the life of other species and, therefore, are an important key species that provides fundamental conditions for maintaining greater biodiversity in the most extreme conditions of the highlands.
According to Raunkier’s System of Life Forms , pillow-shaped plants are a subtype of chamephites (one of the five main types of life forms) - plants in which buds and terminal shoots designed to endure an unfavorable period develop on shoots lying on the surface of the earth, or located so close to it, that in areas where the surface of the earth is covered with snow in winter, it covers them, and in warm areas they are partially covered by dead plant residues lying on the surface of the earth [2] .
Pillow-shaped plants can relate to both shrubs or shrubs (the so-called wood pillows ), and to herbaceous plants ( grassy pillows ) [3] .
Variety of Pillow Plants
In total, more than three hundred species can be attributed to pillow-shaped plants.
Examples of pillow plants:
- Dracophyllum minimum F. Muell. - The snake - catcher is minimal . A species growing in the mountains of Tasmania and New Zealand .
- Alpine (for example, Pamir ) species from the genus Teresken ( Ceratoides ) [3] .
- Alpine (for example, Pamir ) species from the genus Acantholimon ( Acantholimon ). [3] .
- Azorella selago from the Umbrella family; Kerguelen endemic [3] , as well as other species from the genus Azorella ( Azorella ).
- Various species of the genus Minuartia ( Minuartia ), distributed mostly in the Arctic: Arctic Minuartia ( Minuartia arctica ), Two-flowered Minuaria ( Minuartia biflora ), etc.
Left - Two-flowered Divala ( Scleranthus biflorus ), a pillow-shaped plant from Australia and New Zealand ; University of California Botanic Garden Right - Donatia New Zealand ( Donatia novae-zelandiae ). | ||||||||||
Notes
- ↑ Blinova K.F. et al. Botanical-Pharmacognostic Dictionary: Ref. allowance / Ed. K.F. Blinova, G.P. Yakovleva. - M .: Higher. school, 1990. - S. 108. - ISBN 5-06-000085-0 .
- ↑ The system of life forms of Raunkier // Wikipedia. Free encyclopedia. [2007—]. Date updated: 11/13/2008. URL: http://ru.wikipedia.org/?oldid=11979770 (accessed: 02.24.2009).
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 According to Serebryakova T.I. (see section Literature ).
Literature
- Serebryakova T. I. Life forms of plants // Life of plants. In 6 t. / Ch. ed. Al A. Fedorov. - M .: Education, 1974. - T. 1. Introduction. Bacteria and actinomycetes. Ed. N. A. Krasilnikova and A. A. Uranova. - S. 87-98. - 487 p. with ill .; 31 l ill., cards. with. - 300,000 copies.
- Korovkin O. A. Anatomy and morphology of higher plants: glossary. - M .: Drofa, 2007. - S. 168. - 268, [4] p. - (Biological Sciences: Dictionaries of Terms). - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-358-01214-1 .
Links
- TASMANIAN TREASURES-Cushion Plants (English) Retrieved February 24, 2009