Dark purple milkweed
| Dark purple milkweed | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dark purple milkweed |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Euphorbia atropurpurea | ||||||||||||
| Brouss. ex Willd. |
The dark purple spurge ( Euphorbia atropurpurea ) is a plant species in the genus spurge ( Euphorbia ) from the family of the milkweed family (Euphorbiaceae). Its Spanish name is "Tabaiba majorera".
description
Euphorbia atropurpurea is a shrub with heights of up to 1.5 meters, which grows like a candelabra through forked branches. The succulent branches are cinnamon brown and densely covered with leaf scars. The sessile, oblong spatulate, blue-green leaves that reach a length of 15 cm sit in tufted rosettes at the branch ends. After they have withered, the branches remain bare.
The terminal inflorescences appear as five to 15-rayed umbels with about four secondary rays each. The paired, dark purple bracts are kidney-shaped and more than 1 cm wide. The cyathia are only very short stalked and have short hairs. The four nectar glands of the cyathia are oval and vary in color between yellow-green and dark purple.
The triple capsule fruit is about the size of a pea, dark red-brown and glabrous, and protrudes from the cyathium on a bent-back stem. The seeds are elongated, finely wrinkled and have appendages ( caruncula ).
The flowering time on Tenerife is between March and April.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 20.
Origin and ecology
The Euphorbia atropurpurea is on the Canary Island of Tenerife local endemic . It grows there on rocky, rather remote locations in the succulent bush at altitudes between 300 and 1200 meters, especially in the south and west of the island.
Systematics and likelihood of confusion
The name Euphorbia atropurpurea was first published in 1805 by Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet , as it was not diagnosed. The description was subsequently submitted by Carl Ludwig Willdenow in 1809 , which gave the name validity.
- Euphorbia atropurpurea Brouss. ex Willd. var. atropurpurea is the typical variety described above.
- Euphorbia atropurpurea var. Atropurpurea f. lutea Santos grows in the Teno area and differs through yellow bracts, cyathia and fruits.
- Euphorbia atropurpurea var. Modesta Svent. grows in the Tejina valley and differs through initially (striped) purple colored leaves, smaller bracts, narrow elliptical nectar glands and very small dotted fruits.
Euphorbia × navae Svent. , named in honor of Alonso de Nava y Grimón , the founder of the Jardín de aclimatación de La Orotava , is a natural hybrid found at Masca between Euphorbia atropurpurea and Euphorbia regis-jubae Webb & Berth.
Euphorbia bravoana Svent, which is endemic to the neighboring island of La Gomera, is similar . , which is more branched, has fleshier leaves and narrower, lanceolate bracts and forms smaller inflorescences.
gallery
In the Teno Mountains on Tenerife
Habit
var. atropurpurea , leaf rosette
var. atropurpurea , inflorescence
fruit
var. modesta , with initially purple colored leaves
swell
- Urs Eggli (ed.): Succulent lexicon. Dicotyledons (dicotyledons) . Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3915-4 , pp. 115-116 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Peter Schönfelder , Ingrid Schönfelder: Die Kosmos-Kanarenflora (= Kosmos-Naturführer ). Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart, 1997, ISBN 3-440-06037-3 , p. 130.
- ↑ a b c d e f Adalbert Hohenester, Walter Weiß: Excursion flora for the Canary Islands . Ulmer, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-8001-3466-7 , p. 152.
- ↑ Euphorbia atropurpurea at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet: Elenchus plantarum horti botanici Monspeliensis. Augusti Ricard, Monspelii 1805, p. 24, online .
- ↑ Carl Ludwig von Willdenow : Enumeratio plantarum Horti Regii Berolinensis, continens descriptiones omnium vegetabilium in horto dicto cultorum. Part 1, Berlin 1809, p. 501, PDF file .
- ^ A b Arnoldo Santos Guerra: Notas sobre Euphorbia bourgaeana Gay ex Boiss. in DC. y especies afines. In: Botánica Macaronésica. Volume 16, 1988, pp. 29-36, here: pp. 32, 33 PDF file; 1.9 MB .
- ↑ Eric Ragnar Sventenius: Additamentum ad floram canariensem. I. Instituto de Investigaciones Agronómicas, Madrid 1960, p. 31, PDF file.
- ↑ Euphorbia atropurpurea in Flora Vascular de Canarias
Web links
- Profile of the Art. ( Memento from September 10, 2004 in the Internet Archive )