Erysimum baeticum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Erysimum baeticum | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Erysimum baeticum subsp. baeticum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Brassicales |
| Family: | Brassicaceae |
| Genus: | Erysimum |
| Species: | E. baeticum |
| Binomial name | |
| Erysimum baeticum (Heyw.) A.Polatschek, 1979 | |
Erysimum baeticum is an annual to perennial herb endemic to some mountains in the SE of Spain. This species has two subspecies: Erysimum baeticum bastetanum is found only in the Sierra de Baza (Granada province), inhabiting the subalpine pine forests, from 1500 to 2000 m. a.s.l.. Erysimum baeticum baeticum is a subspecies endemic to the eastern range of the Sierra Nevada (Almería province), inhabiting subalpine shrublands. Both subspecies flower during late May through early July, displaying up to one hundred showy purple flowers arranged in several short stalks.
Plants germinate during early spring (March to early May), and usually grow for 2–3 years as vegetative rosettes. Much mortality occurs at this stage due to summer drought. Surviving individuals flower during their second year. Erysimum baeticum bastetanum is monocarpic, most individuals dying after flowering. Erysimum baeticum baeticum is mostly polycarpic, since an important proportion of individuals reproduce more than once.
Morphology
Reproductive plants produce one to eight reproductive stalks. Each flowering stalk can display between 5 and more than one hundred bright purple, hermaphroditic, slightly protandrous flowers arranged in corymbous inflorescences. Flowering stalks are tall (circa 1 m tall) in E. baeticum bastetatum, and very short (around 20 cm tall) in Erysimum baeticum baeticum. Flowers produce minute amount of nectar in four nectaries. Flower shape is extremely variable, ranging from radially to bilaterally symmetric even in the same population.
Pollination biology
Information of pollination biology exists only for Erysimum baeticum baeticum. Flowers are visited by over 50 species of insects belonging to the order Hymenoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Heteroptera. Abundant pollinators are the beetles Meligethes maurus (Nitidulidae), Dasytes subaeneus (Dasytinae), and Malachius laticollis (Malachiinae), the solitary bees Anthophora leucophaea (Apidae) and Colletes sp (Colletidae), and the ants Proformica longiseta, Lasius niger and Cataglyphis velox (Formicidae). However, ants can act both as true pollinators and as nectar robbers.
