Family of buttercups: a general characteristic, representatives

The family of buttercups includes many different in appearance and structure of plants, prevalent mainly in countries with a temperate and cold climate. They also occur on highland pastures. The family of buttercups, a general characteristic and description of which representatives are presented below, includes both poisonous plants, as well as medicinal and ornamental plants . Some species are listed in the Red Book.

Family of buttercups: general characteristics

The main features of plants of the family of buttercups concern external features and peculiarities of the structure of organs. In particular, among the representatives are perennial herbaceous plants that have regular leaves without stipules.

The family of buttercups refers to flowers, that is, to flowering plants. Flowers, as a rule, are correct, bisexual. The most common are the flowers of the penta type, but there are cases of deviations in the number of sepals and petals. Characteristic of a large number of stamens and pistils.

The receptacle connects with stamens and perianth under the pestle. Mounting is free. The corpuscular perianth can be double or simple, sometimes the petals can turn into nectaries.

The family of buttercups is characterized by cross pollination. Self-pollination is a rare occurrence. Type of fruit - seed or leaflet.

Spread

Buttercup grow almost everywhere. Meadows, fields, forests - all these are the habitats of the representatives of the family. Many buttercups have poisonous properties. They are able to harm the digestive, circulatory system of both humans and animals. Characteristic signs of poisoning are vomiting, loose stools, colic, convulsions, slowing of the pulse. If the animal eats too many buttercups, it can lead to death, which occurs 6-12 hours after the onset of seizures. It is important that when drying, the toxic properties are lost.

Value

The family of buttercups is quite numerous, and some plants are highly valued in gardening (peony, aconite, clematis). There are also medicinal plants among the representatives, for example, the Goricolus spring, which is used in the treatment of heart diseases. One of the earliest spring flowers is the buttercup golden, and in the meadows you can find a buttercup creeping.

The genus of buttercup is the most numerous

This genus is in fact almost the entire family of buttercups. Representatives of the genus are very numerous - more than 300 species. The golden cornices glint in the sun, as if smeared with butter, which attracts the attention of the numerous inhabitants of the meadows. Despite the external beauty, most species of buttercup are weeds. And very viable. In the struggle against them, the meadow lies in an obvious loss. These plants demonstrate an example of incredible resilience and adaptability to environmental conditions. For example, in the Faroe Islands, where torrential rains are continuously flowing, the buttercup has adapted to pollination without the participation of insects. Their absence there did not become an obstacle to the widespread spread of these plants.

It is easy to answer the question of the morphological classification of the genus buttercup. What kind of family it is, you can understand by its name. In colloquial speech, many plants, even those belonging to other genera, but having typical family characteristics, use this name.

Buttercup

It is a meadow weed that blooms in the spring. You can meet in the meadows until very late autumn. The height of shoots can vary greatly, it varies from 20 cm to 60 cm.

The most typical representative of the family is the caustic buttercup. The family of plants, although very diverse, but this species is most approximate, from an evolutionary point of view, to ancient ancestors.

The leaves are deeply filamentary, with a rhombic part. The lower ones are attached to the long petioles, and the upper ones to the short petioles.

Straight stems are characterized by the presence of pressed hairs and single flowers located at the ends of branches. There is no stalk on the pedicels, but there are soft hairs. Flower of the five type. Calyx is free-leaf greenish, and free petals are colored bright yellow. At the base of each of the petals is located the honey gland, which is covered with a scaly.

One of the most dangerous plants for livestock is the buttercup. The family includes other poisonous species, but due to the widespread distribution of caustic buttercup, this plant most often causes poisoning of domestic animals.

Field keenness

Speaking about the liveliness of the field, use several names: horned cornflower, sokirka.

It grows, as a rule, among winter crops, rarely - among spring crops. Animal aggregations can also be found on steam fields.

The flower is incorrect, blue-violet, with spur. Are located on the stem in the form of a rare branched brush. Perianth is represented by two colored sepals and two petals. Pollination cross, with the participation of insects having long proboscis. With their help, they get the nectar from the spur. The stem branches, the height can reach 30 cm. The leaves are three-sectioned with linear lobes. Fruit is a leaflet. Seeds have a dark gray color, in length can reach 2-5 mm. Outside they are covered with thin scales. Have a bitter taste and toxic properties. Cases of poisoning with liveliness are frequent phenomena in sheep.

Lumbago

The characteristics of plants of the kind of lumbago prove how diverse the family of buttercups. Representatives of it can be both weeds (buttercup), and rare plants (lumbago). From the first do not know how to get rid, and the second do not know how to save. Lumbago appears in early spring, as soon as snow falls. Hence the second name - the snowdrop. First, above the ground begins to rise a large flower of delicate purple or yellow in the form of a glass of wine. It is so close to the surface that it can be very difficult to break it. The whole fragile plant is shrouded in a sheath, which is formed by numerous soft hairs. This allows you to protect the tender body from the cold. Day by day the leg on which the flower is located stretches ever more strongly. Leaves appear much later. The life-giving forces of the flower are maintained at the expense of last year's reserves, which are scooped up by a strong, stubby root hidden in the ground.

The lumbago needs protection

In many European countries, the chamber has become so rare that its ecological value can be compared to the value of a tiger in India. The lumbago is included there in the Red Book. There is still a lot of lumbago on the territory of Siberia. To keep its population at a high level, environmentalists tackled its demographics. The age of each plant within the experimental group was calculated, subgroups of young and old people were identified. The results of the study were very disappointing. The predominance of old individuals over young was prevalent. The explanation for this fact can be very different. Perhaps the reason for this is a small number of insect pollinators during the early spring. Because of this, the flowers are little pollinated, which reduces the number of fruit. According to another version, the red background of last year's grass creates a not very bright picture, but the purple inclusions of the flowers of the lumbago, apparently, are so pleasing to the eyes of the townspeople that they want to take a piece of this joy home. A happy feature, consisting in the late formation of leaves, does not allow the "decapitated plants" to perish, but they no longer form fruits. Thus, there is no replenishment of the young. At the same time, the number of old plants increases.

Flower lumbago correct. That is, cutting it into two parts, you always get two symmetrical halves.

The mystery of the neighborhood of the lumbago and pine

The family of buttercups, and in particular the genus of lumbago, became the object of study for the geobotanist I. Ilyinskaya. She successfully solved the secret of the constant proximity of the chamber with the pine. It turns out that the fragile snowdrop is the protector of the high pine. I. Il'inskaya conducted her research in the forest-steppe. From the tall trees the seeds of the pine are carried away by the wind to the steppe zone, where it is very difficult for them to settle down. Most of the young shoots die from the burning sun and the onslaught of steppe grassy vegetation. But there are unusual areas in the steppe, where young pine trees are adorned in the middle of the bare steppe. They were saved from sun rays and the onslaught of herbs. And the bushes of the lumbago helped them, which, like a miniature palm grove, formed a shadow, so necessary for young shoots of pine. Strengthened, the pine grows out its defender. This is how the pines gradually replace the virgin steppe.

Aconite

The flowers of aconite are irregular. One of the petals has grown so much that it has become much larger than the others. He is like a helmet, that's why in some countries he is called a "hood of a monk". In the genus Aconite 60 species. All of them are plants of the northern hemisphere. The family of buttercups, as is known, is characterized by a bright coloration of flowers. Aconite is one more confirmation of this. In the steppe, the characteristic coloration is yellow, in the taiga - blue and violet. The height of shoots in the humid mid-mountain range, where, due to a large amount of snow, the soil does not freeze, it can reach 2-3 meters. Then you can look at it only from the bottom up. The aconite thickets, like a thick spruce forest, are dark and damp. This darkness does not allow the development of other plants. The soil is covered with fallen leaves of aconite. The stem on the top ends with a huge brush-garland of helmet-shaped flowers: from below they are large, blossoming, and above - still buds. Reliability of procreation is provided by different seed ripening times.

In gardening for a long time appreciate the beauty of aconite. Hunters in the Himalayas use poisonous tubers of aconite, replacing them with curare. Poisonous and aboveground part, too, so you can not leave a large bouquet indoors for a long time. The presence of poison in plants is a guarantee of their safety, protection against eating by herbivores. But there is an exception among representatives of fauna. Green aconite likes to feast on pika (rodent, similar to ground squirrel). In the summer, the pikas cut the aconite stems to the very root, as if loggers felled trees. This is their winter harvesting. Pikas gnaw stems, of which then they make snaps.

Adonis

The curative herb of the buttercup family is a mountain flower. He adapts very subtly to the conditions of the surrounding reality, sensitively reacting to any violations in nature brought by man. Gorisvet is a resident of the steppes, which causes a small height of plants (not more than 50 cm). Leaves are typical for the habitat - with narrow slices, almost threadlike, like a carrot. The flower is magnificent, golden in color. The number of petals varies from 15 to 20 pieces, there are many stamens and pistils. Flowers are used in pharmacology. They serve as a raw material for making heart drops. But the steppes are plowed up, and the number of mountainous trees decreases. He tried to grow on a bed, but, alas, there he did not get accustomed. Therefore, sections of the steppe, where the mountain color is preserved, must be carefully guarded.

The characteristics of the family of buttercups would be incomplete without indicating its diversity. The number of genera in this family reaches fifty, and species - more than 2000. These are mainly herbs, in rare cases - half-shrubs. The wood structure (secondary) is characteristic only of several species.