Zannichellia melitensis

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Zannichellia melitensis
Systematics
Class : Bedecktsamer (Magnoliopsida)
Monocots
Order : Frog-spoon-like (Alismatales)
Family : Pondweed family (Potamogetonaceae)
Genre : Pond thread ( Zannichellia )
Type : Zannichellia melitensis
Scientific name
Zannichellia melitensis
Brullo , Giusso & Lanfr.

Zannichellia melitensis is a species of the family of the pondweed plants (Potamogetonaceae). The species is native to Malta only.

description

Zannichellia melitensis is an annual, submerged aquatic plant. The slender, elongated stem axis is 6 to 15 centimeters long, the individual internodes can be up to 2 centimeters long, and there are seven to eight air ducts in the bark. The opposite leaves are simple and sessile. They are 1.5 to 5 inches long, 0.25 to 0.3 millimeters wide, flat, linear and slightly blunted at the extreme end. In the mesophyll they have two air-carrying ducts.

Both purely male and purely female flowers are formed on a plant, each on the same node ( monoecia ). The flowers are tiny. The stamens are 5 to 10 millimeters long and carry four-compartment anthers that have a length of 1.3 to 1.4 millimeters. The short-stalked female flowers have a membranous inflorescence and three to four, rarely five, ungrown carpels . The tongue-shaped scars are entire with a honeycomb structure on the surface. The fruits are light brown, sessile to almost sessile achenes , which are flattened on the sides and wrinkled on the convex side. The tip is 1.2 to 1.5 millimeters long.

Distribution and ecology

The species is found exclusively on the islands of the Maltese archipelago, where it occurs from December to April in small, sweet to brackish bodies of water, for example in the small and deep water bodies of the rock plateau that are filled with rainwater during the rainy season.

It is associated there with Damasonium bourgaei , Callitriche truncatula , Elatine gussonei , Chara vulgaris and Ranunculus saniculifolius, among others . This plant community belongs to the Callitricho-Batrachion habitat type .

The species is rare.

Systematics and botanical history

The species was first described in 2001 by Salvatore Brullo , Gianpietro Giusso and Edwin Lanfranco . The stocks were previously mostly assigned to Zannichellia palustris or Zannichellia pedunculata as Zannichellia palustris var. Pedicellata .

The exact assignment to one of the sections of the genus is considered problematic. While it should be placed in the Zannichellia section because of the monoecious flowers at the knot and the short stamens , it belongs in the Monopus section because of the four- compartment anthers .

proof

  1. ↑ a b c d e Hans Christian Weber, Bernd Kendzior: Flora of the Maltese Islands - A Field Guide. Margraf, Weikersheim 2006, ISBN 3-8236-1478-9 , p. 18.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Salvatore Brullo, Gianpietro Giusso del Galdo, Edwin Lanfranco: A new species of Zannichellia L. (Zannichelliaceae) from Malta . In: Flora Mediterranea . Volume 11, 2001, pp. 379-384, PDF file .

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