Microcnemum coralloides
| Microcnemum coralloides | ||||||||||||
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Microcnemum coralloides , illustration |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Microcnemum | ||||||||||||
| Ung.-Sternb. | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Microcnemum coralloides | ||||||||||||
| ( Loscos & J.Pardo ) Buen |
Microcnemum coralloides is the only species of the plant genus Microcnemum in the foxtail family(Amaranthaceae). They are annual salt plants with fleshy, seemingly articulated stems and greatly reduced leaves and flowers. The two subspecies show a widely separated distribution in Spain and in the Middle East.
description
Vegetative characteristics
Microcnemum coralloides thrive as low, annual herbaceous plants with heights of only 5 to 10 centimeters. The coloration is variable, in the subspecies Microcnemum coralloides subsp. coralloides often also purple-red. The upright stems are usually not very branched. The opposite leaves are fleshy, reduced to small scales, fused in the lower part and surround the stem like a cup.
Inflorescences and flowers
The spike-like inflorescences are terminal on all stem axes, they are cone-shaped and 1.5 to 3 centimeters long. They consist of opposite, (two- to) three-flowered cymes , which are sunk into the axilla of a bract , which resembles the leaves. The small, hermaphrodite flowers are free from one another. The overgrown tepals are reduced to a tiny, membranous lobe or are completely absent, especially at the fruiting time. There is only one stamen . The ovary bears two scars .
Fruits and seeds
The reddish-magenta-colored seeds are egg-shaped, somewhat flattened vertically and have a granular or papillary surface. The stalk-round embryo is curved and there is a nutrient tissue.
Chromosome number
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 18.
Distribution and location
Microcnemum coralloides can be found in two widely separated ( disjoint ) areas in the Mediterranean : the subspecies Microcnemum coralloides subsp. coralloides occurs in central and eastern Spain , while the subspecies Microcnemum coralloides subsp. anatolicum is common in Turkey , Syria , Armenia and Iran .
Microcnemum coralloides colonizes the edge of very salty, shallow lagoons and salt pans inland. It often grows on thick salt crusts, together with a few other salt plants that can withstand such extreme salt contents during the dry season. The species is rare.
Systematics and phylogenetics
The valid first description of this species was made in 1863 by Francisco Loscos Bernal and José Pardo Sastrón under the name ( Basionym ) Arthrocnemum coralloides Loscos & J.Pardo (in: Willkomm, HM: Series Inconfecta Plantarum Aragoniae , Dresden: p. 90). The authors had previously used the name Salicornia fastigiata for it in the unpublished manuscript Flora de Aragón . Franz Ungern-Sternberg placed this species in its own new genus Microcnemum in 1876 , but he used the combination Microcnemum fastigiatum (Loscos & J.Pardo) Ung.-Sternb. which was based on the unpublished species name. Odón de Buen corrected the name to Microcnemum coralloides (Loscos & J.Pardo) Buen in 1883 . Another synonym is Loscosia aragonensis Willk. ex Pau noun illegit.
The main difference between the two subspecies is their seeds. Other slight differences in height, succulence, branching and color seem to be variable and are probably due to seasonal fluctuations in precipitation and salt content in the soil:
- Microcnemum coralloides (Loscos & J.Pardo) Buen subsp. coralloides : with a granular or slightly papillary surface of the seed coat.
- Microcnemum coralloides subsp. anatolicum Wagenitz : with a clearly dense papillary surface of the seed coat.
The genus Microcnemum is closely related to Arthrocnemum , as well as Sarcocornia / Salicornia and the Australian representatives of the Salicornieae ( Tecticornia ). All four lines of descent probably developed in the Middle Miocene on the shores of the Tethys Sea .
After phylogenetic studies, Microcnemum coralloides arose in the eastern Mediterranean. The division into the subspecies took place around 2.8–0.5 million years ago. The subspecies Microcnemum coralloides subsp. coralloides probably developed during a cold period in the early Pleistocene , when the lower sea level allowed extensive coastal lagoons to spread to the west. Soon after reaching the Iberian Peninsula, the range was divided during the following warm periods.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Ian Charleson Hedge: Microcnemum coralloides. In: Karl Heinz Rechinger et al. (Ed.): Flora Iranica , Volume 172, Chenopodiaceae , Akad. Druck, Graz 1997, ISBN 3-201-00728-5 , pp. 132-133.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Gudrun Kadereit, Ahmet Emre Yaprak: Microcnemum coralloides (Chenopodiaceae- Salicornioideae): an example of intraspecific East-West disjunctions in the Mediterranean region. In: Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid , Volume 65, No 2, 2008, pp. 415-426.
- ↑ Microcnemum coralloides at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ Carlez Benedí González, Josep M. Montserrat Martí: Tres Manuscritos inéditos de Francisco Loscos en el instituto botánico de Barcelona. In: Flora Montiberica , Volume 10, 1998, p. 18.
- ^ Franz Ungern-Sternberg: Salicorniearum Synopsis . In: Atti del congresso internazionale botanico tenuto in Firenze nel mese di maggio 1874 , 1876, pp. 268-269, 280. First description by Microcnemum
- ↑ Mikko Piirainen 2009: Microcnemum coralloides. In: P. Uotila, (Ed.): Chenopodiaceae. In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.
- ^ A b Synonyms of Microcnemum coralloides in Flora Iberia
- ↑ Gudrun Kadereit, Ladislav Mucina, Helmut Freitag: Phylogeny of Salicornioideae (Chenopodiaceae): diversification, biogeography, and evolutionary trends in leaf and flower morphology , In: Taxon , Volume 55 (3), 2006, pp. 617-642.
