Canarian horn clover
| Canarian horn clover | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canarian horn clover ( Lotus berthelotii ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lotus berthelotii | ||||||||||||
| Masf. |
The Canary horn clover or Berthelot's horn clover ( Lotus berthelotii ) is a species of the subfamily of the butterflies (Faboideae). It is one of four endemic horn clover species in Tenerife and is threatened with extinction in its natural habitats. In Central Europe it is used as a bedding and balcony plant for the summer.
description
The Canary Horn Clover is a prostrate or creeping, evergreen, perennial herbaceous plant and is sometimes classified as a subshrub . The vegetative parts of the plant are gray. It reaches heights of growth of up to 20 cm. The long shoot axes often cover large areas. The small leaves are silver gray.
The numerous flowers appear singly or in pairs from April to May. The orange-red to scarlet flowers are reminiscent of crab claws in shape and color. The spotted horn clover ( Lotus maculatus ), also endemic to Tenerife, has yellow, orange and brown colored flowers.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 28.
ecology
The Canary Horn Clover shows clear characteristics of ornithogamy (bird pollination). It was probably pollinated by nectar birds earlier . Today only the Canary Chiffchaff ( Phylloscopus collybita canariensis ) pollinates it .
Occurrence and protection
The Canary Horn Clover is only known from three places on Tenerife. Two of them are in the Espacio Natural Protegido Parque Natural de La Corona Forestal, one in the Reserva Natural Integral de Pinoleris. Since it reproduces poorly sexually, it is classified as critically endangered in both the Spanish and the Canarian Red List of Endangered Species. The Plan de Recuperación del picopaloma tries to grow new plants by cuttings in order to increase the number of individuals and to preserve genetic diversity.
Systematics
Lotus berthelotii was first described by Ramón Masferrer y Arquimbau in 1881 . A synonym is Lotus peliorhynchus Hook.f. His scientific name honors the French naturalist and ethnologist Sabin Berthelot .
literature
- Jeanne Dericks-Tan, Gabriele Vollbrecht: On the trail of wild fruits in Europe. Abadi, Alzenau 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-021129-4 , pp. 144-145.
- Royal Horticultural Society; Christopher Brickell, Wilhelm Barthlott (ed.): Dumont's great plant encyclopedia . tape 2 K-Z . Dumont, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-7701-4350-7 , p. 634 (English: A - Z encyclopedia of garden plants . London et al. 1996. Translated by Nadja Biedinger, Rüdiger Seine).
- Peter Schönfelder , Ingrid Schönfelder: The Kosmos-Canary Islands flora. Over 850 species of the Canary Islands flora and 48 tropical ornamental trees (= Kosmos nature guide ). Kosmos, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-440-06037-3 , p. 124.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manuel Arechavaleta, S. Rodríguez, Nieves Zurita, A. García (eds.): Lista de especies silvestres de Canarias. Hongos, plantas y animales terrestres. 2009. Gobierno de Canarias 2010, ISBN 978-84-89729-21-6 , pp. 133-134 (PDF file, 12.5 MB). ( Memento of the original from November 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Plan de Recuperación del picopaloma, Lotus berthelotii, y pico de El Sauzal, Lotus maculatus. In: Sistema de información medioambiental de Canarias. Gobierno de Canarias, accessed March 14, 2015 .
- ↑ Lotus berthelotii at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ Ornithogamy. In: Lexicon of Biology. Spectrum of Science, 1999, accessed March 14, 2015 .
- ↑ Ramón Masferrer y Arquimbau: Recuerdos botánicos de Tenerife; ó sea, datos para el estudio de la Flora Canaria. Part segunda. In: Anales de la Sociedad Española de Historia Natural. Volume 10, 1881, 139-230 (here: p. 160) (online) .
- ↑ Joseph Dalton Hooker: Lotus peliorhynchus. Native of Tenerife. In: Curtis' Botanical Magazine. Volume 110, 1884, plate 6733 + 2 pages of text ( digitized ).
