Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Cats Doorn Plant

The Cats Doorn (Ononis repens subsp. Spinosa, synonym: Ononis spinosa) is a small shrub, which belongs to the Fabaceae family (Leguminosae) The subspecies is on the Dutch Red List of plants as general if it has fallen sharply. The range is Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa and Asia. The genus Ononis is derived from the Greek Onos which means donkey because donkeys love of the bush food. Other Dutch names are duivelsbedstro, spice ass, ox and sheep breaker thorn.


The plant is 20-60 cm high and has a thick taproot. The branches are sturdy thorns, which pairs sit together. The young branches with two rows of glandular hairs that each internode immediately jump. The leaves are ternate palmately composed and have few glandular hairs.


Cats Doorn blooms from June to September, with red and white, pure white or pink flowers. The flowers are 1-2 cm long and attached to upright stems or created.


The 6-10 mm long, ovoid fruit is a capsule, covered with glandular hairs, making them sticky. The fruit is as long or longer than the calyx.


Cats Doorn occurs in the floodplains, dikes and rivierdalhellingen and on the edge of salt marshes.



Names in other languages:


* German: Dornige Hauhechel

* English: Spiny Restharrow

* French: Ononis Épineux; arrêté-boeuf

* Occitan: tanco-buòu




Source: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kattendoorn


See also: Sending Flowers, Online Florist, Florist

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