Genista hirsuta Vahl subsp. lanuginosa (Spach) Nyman var. silicicola Hidalgo Triana & Pérez Lat., 2019

Hidalgo-Triana, Noelia & Pérez-Latorre, Andrés V., 2019, A study of functional traits reveals serpentinomorphoses and new taxa in populations of Mediterranean Genista (Fabaceae), Phytotaxa 394 (4), pp. 244-256 : 253-254

Genista hirsuta Vahl subsp. lanuginosa (Spach) Nyman var. silicicola Hidalgo Triana & Pérez Lat. var. nov. ( Fig. 2 )

Holotype: — SPAIN. Málaga: Alhaurín de la Torre, caracolillo Venta Vázquez, encinar, 5 May 1984, M. Lerga-Morán ( MGC 15384 !).

Diagnosis: — The new variety differs from the typical variety, var. lanuginosa , because of its erect and branched shape, with longer photosynthetic stems and flaky bark, spines or sterile axillary branches usually pinnate, leaves shorter and broader and with greater density of tomentum, inflorescences longer with a higher number of flowers and flowering period starting in April.

Description: — Shrubby chamaephyte. Plant more than 80 cm high, erect, branched. Stem with flaky bark; spines or sterile axillary branches usually pinnate. Leaves 5–10 mm long and 1.4–5mm wide, tomentose on the underside. Inflorescences which exceed 4 cm in length in the anthesis and with numerous flowers. Flowering April–May.

Etymology: — The epithet refers to the type of rocks where the variety inhabits , constituted by mica-schists, gneisses and siliceous sands, as opposed to the var. lanuginosa which inhabits exclusively on peridotite rocks.

Distribution and habitat: — The new variety is distributed in the south of the Iberian Peninsula (namely Malaga province) and probably in NW of Morocco (Rif mountains) ( Talavera & Cabezudo 1995). It appears on shallow soils in thermic warm areas somewhat rainy in the thermomediterranean bioclimatic belt, generally in Cistus ladanifer communities as a successional step from Quercus suber forests opened by fires, between 20 and 600 m ( Pérez-Latorre et al. 1997, Talavera 1999). The var. lanuginosa inhabits exclusively on peridotite rocks ( GBIF 2018) of the ultramafic outcrop of Malaga province, and therefore it should be considered as an obligated serpentinophyte ( Pérez-Latorre et al. 2013).

Conservation status: — The new var. silicicola shows a wide distribution and numerous populations ( GBIF 2018), so it could be included in the NT category according to the IUCN (2017).

Other studied material (paratypes): — SPAIN. Málaga: Mijas, alcornocal de Las Pasadas, Casa del Becerril , alcornocal denso sobre esquistos, 180 m, 30 SUF4449 , 8 May 2008, B. Cabezudo, A. V. Pérez-Latorre, O. Gavira & F. Soriguer ( MGC 67607 !) ; Estepona, Sierra Bermeja, El Cañuelo, gneises, 280 m, 30 SUF0629937195 , 14 February 2014, A. V. Pérez-Latorre & N. Hidalgo-Triana ( MGC 78127 !) .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Compared traits for GLS (plot in serpentines) and GLG (plot in gneiss). a) Growth form in GLS (var. lanuginosa); b) Growth form in GLG (var. silicicola nov.); c) Inflorescence in GLS; d) Inflorescence in GLG; e) Short dolichoblasts (GLS); f) Long dolichoblasts (GLG); g) Organ redness in GLS; h) Organ redness absent in GLG; i) Leaf in GLS; j) Leaf in GLG; k) Apical root in GLS; l) Horizontal root in GLG. Photographs: N. Hidalgo-Triana.