blossom
Between May and June the inconspicuous green flowers appear, which sit together in loose inflorescences. Usually two to six, rarely nine flowers per axis are formed. They are hermaphroditic and four-fold. The flowers form a sweet-smelling nectar that attracts numerous insects. The flower visitors mainly include flies and ants. More flowers will develop on calcareous soils.
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fruit
The fruits ripen from September. They are capsule fruits with four lobes that are purple-pink to carmine-red in color. When their development is complete, they pop open with four flaps. In each compartment there is a seed on an elongated stem that hangs out of the open flaps. Because of the similarity to the typical headgear of Catholic clergy, the shrub got its German name.
The strikingly colored fruits attract different birds, which ingest the seeds. They nibble off the fleshy outer shell of the seed and drop the inner part. Mainly robins eat the seeds, which is why the shrub was nicknamed robin bread. Thrushes and tits are also frequent visitors.
The seeds already contain greenish cotyledons. Even so, it takes three to four years for the seeds to start germinating. Ephemera reproduce vegetatively through creeping shoots that have roots on the ground.
Toxicity
All parts of the plant are poisonous. The toxic ingredients are particularly highly concentrated in the seeds. Birds do not die from eating the fruit. For other pets, accidental snacking can quickly prove fatal. The fruits and leaves are not suitable for consumption, even if they were used medicinally in the past. The poisonous effects of the plant have been known since ancient times.
Possible symptoms:
- nausea
- Vomit
- diarrhea
- rapid breathing
- increased pulse
use
As a valuable wood for fastening slopes, banks and Embankments the Pfaffenhütchen has proven itself several times. The wood provides an important raw material for the production of charcoal or cleaning wood for watchmakers. The shrub has a high ornamental value in gardens and parks. The native wood should not be missing in the natural garden, because it offers a valuable habitat for insects and birds.