Atriplex lanfrancoi

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Atriplex lanfrancoi
Systematics
Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family : Foxtail family (Amaranthaceae)
Subfamily : Chenopodioideae
Tribe : Atripliceae
Genre : Report ( Atriplex )
Type : Atriplex lanfrancoi
Scientific name
Atriplex lanfrancoi
( Brullo & Pavone ) G.Kadereit & Sukhor.

Atriplex lanfrancoi is a kind from the kind of Log ( Atriplex ) in the family of amaranthaceae (Amaranthaceae). The shrub can only be found in Malta and Gozo .

description

Atriplex lanfrancoi is a dense shrub with a stature height of up to 1.5 meters. The elongated leaves are slightly fleshy, up to 3 centimeters long and cream-colored to gray-white, almost silver in color. The flowering time is unusual in summer. The inconspicuous, small flowers are arranged in clusters, a crown is missing. The fruits are small nut fruits as they ripen, the color bracts reddish.

The base chromosome number is n = 10, which is very unusual, as all other Atriplex species have a base number of n = 9.

Spread and endangerment

Atriplex lanfrancoi is native to Malta and Gozo, where it inhabits coasts and cliffs . It is believed to be a paleo- endemic element of the Maltese flora . In addition to the wild occurrences, there are some anointings , and it is also occasionally used as an ornamental plant in public places (for example in Triq it-Torri ( Tower Street ) in Qrendi or in Sliema ).

This species is considered to be very rare and endangered. The total (estimated) stocks contain only several thousand plants. Important factors of endangerment are an insect pest (a wasp of the genus Eurytoma ) that eats the seeds, an unknown fungus that lowers reproductive power, and pollution and displacement by invasive neophytes such as Carpobrotus edulis , Agave americana and Opuntia ficus-indica .

Systematics

The species was first described in 1987 by Salvatore Brullo and Pietro Pavone as Cremnophyton lanfrancoi , after it had long been confused with Halimione portulacoides . This generic name means something like "plant on a slope", the specific epithet honors the Maltese botanist Edwin Lanfranco .

After phylogenetic studies, Gudrun Kadereit and Alexander Petrowitsch Suchorukow placed this species in the genus Atriplex in 2010 (in American Journal of Botany , Volume 97, p. 1682). Within the genus it belongs to the Atriplex lanfrancoi / Atriplex cana clade, which is probably a relic of an early line of development.

A synonym of Atriplex lanfrancoi (Brullo & Pavone) G.Kadereit & Sukhor. is Cremnophyton lanfrancoi Brullo & Pavone .

proof

  1. ↑ a b c Hans Christian Weber, Bernd Kendzior: Flora of the Maltese Islands - A Field Guide , 2006, ISBN 3-8236-1478-9 , p. 102
  2. ↑ a b c d Bertrand de Montmollin, Wendy Strahm (Ed.): The Top 50 Mediterranean Island Plants: Wild plants at the brink of extinction, and what is needed to save them. , IUCN / SSC Mediterranean Islands Plant Specialist Group, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, 2005, PDF online , p. 72
  3. ↑ Gudrun Kadereit, Evgeny V. Mavrodiev, Elizabeth H. Zacharias & Alexander P. Sukhorukov: Molecular phylogeny of Atripliceae (Chenopodioideae, Chenopodiaceae): Implications for systematics, biogeography, flower and fruit evolution, and the origin of C4 Photosynthesis . -In: American Journal of Botany , Volume 97 (10), 2010, p. 1682.

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