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Moehringia intricata tejedensis

Overview

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Critically Endangered

Threat status

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Family Caryophyllaceae

Herbs annual or perennial , rarely subshrubs or shrubs . Stems and branches usually swollen at nodes. Leaves opposite, decussate, rarely alternate or verticillate , simple , entire, usually connate at base ; stipules scarious , bristly , or often absent. Inflorescence of cymes or cymose panicles, rarely flowers solitary or few in racemes , capitula, pseudoverticillasters, or umbels. Flowers actinomorphic , bisexual , rarely unisexual , occasionally cleistogamous . Sepals (4 or) 5, free , imbricate, or connate into a tube , leaflike or scarious, persistent , sometimes bracteate below calyx. Petals (4 or) 5, rarely absent, free, often comprising claw and limb; limb entire or split, usually with coronal scales at juncture of claw and limb. Stamens (2--) 5--10, in 1 or 2 series. Pistil 1; carpels 2--5, united into a compound ovary. Ovary superior, 1-loculed or basally imperfectly 2--5-loculed. Gynophore present or absent. Placentation free, central, rarely basal; ovules (1 or) few or numerous , campylotropous. Styles (1 or) 2--5, sometimes united at base. Fruit usually a capsule, with pericarp crustaceous , scarious, or papery , dehiscing by teeth or valves 1 or 2 × as many as styles, rarely berrylike with irregular dehiscence or an achene. Seeds 1 to numerous, reniform , ovoid , or rarely dorsiventrally compressed , abaxially grooved , blunt , or sharply pointed , rarely fimbriate-pectinate; testa granular , striate or tuberculate , rarely smooth or spongy ; embryo strongly curved and surrounding perisperm or straight but eccentric ; perisperm mealy.

Between 75 and 80 genera and ca. 2000 species: widespread but mainly of temperate or warm-temperate occurrence in the N hemisphere, with principal centers of distribution in the Mediterranean region and W Asia to W China and the Himalayas, fewer species in Africa S of the Sahara, America, and Oceania; 30 genera (two endemic) and 390 species (193 endemic) in China.

Arenaria, Silene, and Stellaria contain over half the species in the family in China. They are mostly concentrated in the Qinghai-Xizang plateau , and are especially rich from the Hengduan Mountains to the Himalayas. The main uses of this family are medicinal and ornamental . Dianthus superbus, Pseudostellaria heterophylla, Stellaria dichotoma var. lanceolata, and Vaccaria hispanica are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine . Some species of Arenaria, Dianthus, Gypsophila, Psammosilene, and Silene are used as medicinal herbs among the people or are habitually used in local Chinese medicine. Many species of Dianthus, Gypsophila, Lychnis, Saponaria, and Silene are grown as ornamentals. Atocion armeria (Linnaeus) Rafinesque ( Silene armeria Linnaeus), native to Russia and Europe, is also cultivated in China. It differs from Silene in having a corymbose inflorescence and obscure calyx veins. Wu Cheng-yih, Ke Ping, Zhou Li-hua, Tang Chang-lin & Lu De-quan. 1996. Caryophyllaceae. In: Tang Chang-lin, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 26: 47–449.[1]

Genus Moehringia

Herbs, annual or perennial . Taproots slender, rhizomes slender or absent. Stems prostrate or ascending to erect , simple or branched, terete or angled . Leaves not connate , petiolate or sessile, not congested at or near base of flowering stem; blade 1-3(-7) -veined, lanceolate to elliptic or ovate to broadly ovate, not succulent, apex acute or obtuse . Inflorescences terminal or axillary , open cymes, or flowers solitary; bracts paired and foliaceous , or smaller and mostly scarious . Pedicels erect or recurved in fruit. Flowers: perianth and androecium weakly perigynous; hypanthium minute, disc-shaped; sepals (4-) 5, distinct , green, ovate to obovate , 1.7-6 mm, herbaceous, margins white, scarious, apex obtuse or acute to acuminate, not hooded ; petals (4-) 5, white, not clawed, blade apex entire; nectaries as fleshy lobes at base of filaments opposite sepals, ca. 3 times width of filament, connate proximally into basal disc; stamens 10, occasionally 8, arising from nectariferous disc; filaments distinct; staminodes absent; styles 3, filiform , 1.5-1.8 mm, glabrous proximally; stigmas 3, linear along adaxial surface of styles, minutely papillate (30×). Capsules broadly ovoid to subglobose, opening by 6 revolute teeth; carpophore absent. Seeds 2-6, reddish brown to blackish, ellipsoid to reniform , laterally compressed , shiny, smooth to minutely tuberculate , marginal wing absent, appendage white, ± elliptic, spongy . x = 12.

Species 25: north-temperate North America, Europe, Asia.

Members of Moehringia and Petrocoptis (a segregate from Silene, comprising four species in the Pyrenees) are the only Caryophyllaceae with strophioles (eliasomes), spongy seed appendages that attract ants . Foraging ants gather the seeds, eat only the strophiole, and œplant the seeds in their nests .

We follow J. McNeill (1962) and V. Bittrich (1993) among others in recognizing Moehringia. The appendaged (strophiolate ) seed and a chromosome base number of 12 are the chief characters distinguishing Moehringia from Arenaria. Although McNeill noted that this distinction is similar to features used to distinguish subgenera within Arenaria, he retained Moehringia and suggested that, among other evidence, cytological investigation of the North American species of Moehringia and members of Arenaria subg. Leiosperma McNeill (New World, especially Andean South America) would help support such action. Chromosome counts made since 1962 do show x = 12 in North American Moehringia and x = (10) 11 for Arenaria subg. Leiosperma.[2]

Habitat

Biome: Terrestrial [3].

Ecology: This perennial herb grows in fissures of calcareous rocks. It is found on dolomite vertical walls at an altitude between 1,750 and 1,850 m. [3].

List of Habitats :

Taxonomy

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Similar Species

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Members of the genus Moehringia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 3 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

M. lateriflora (Blunt-Leaf Grove-Sandwort) · M. macrophylla (Bigleaf Sandwort) · M. trinervia (Three-Veined Sandwort)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Dequan Lu, Zhengyi Wu, Lihua Zhou, Shilong Chen, Michael G. Gilbert, Magnus Lidén, John McNeill, John K. Morton, Bengt Oxelman, Richard K. Rabeler, Mats Thulin, Nicholas J. Turland & Warren L. Wagner "Caryophyllaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 6 Page 1. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Richard K. Rabeler, Ronald L. Hartman "Moehringia". in Flora of North America Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Cabezudo, B., Pérez Latorre, A.V., Navas, P., Gil, Y. & Navas, D. 2006. Moehringia intricata ssp. tejedensis. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 02 February 2012. [back]
Last Revised: 7/26/2012