''Tuberaria lignosa'' is a species of perennial
rock-rose native to the western
Mediterranean region.
Description
''Tuberaria lignosa'' is a
perennial
In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...
herb, often woody towards the base. It reaches a height of and branches freely. Its leaves are simple, long and wide. The
inflorescence
In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...
is lax, with each flower in diameter.
Distribution and ecology
''Tuberaria lignosa'' is found around the western
Mediterranean Basin, in parts of Italy, France, mainland Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and the Canary Islands.
Taxonomy
The species was
first described by
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
in his 1753 work ', as "''Cistus tuberaria''". It was later transferred to the genus ''
Helianthemum
''Helianthemum'' (), known as rock rose, sunrose, rushrose, or frostweed, '', and when
Michel Félix Dunal
Michel Félix Dunal (24 October 1789 in Montpellier – 29 July 1856 in Montpellier) was a French botanist. He was a professor of botany in Montpellier, France.
He held the chair of natural history at the University of Montpellier from 1816 unt ...
erected ''Helianthemum'' sect. ''Tuberaria'' in 1824, he designated "''Helianthemum tuberaria''" as its
type species
In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
. In 1827,
Robert Sweet published a description of "''Helianthemum lignosum''", but this name was invalid as a
junior synonym
In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently.
...
of ''H. tuberaria''. In 1836,
Édouard Spach
Édouard Spach (23 November 1801 – 18 May 1879) was a French botanist.
The son of a merchant in Strasbourg, in 1824 he went to Paris, where he studied botany with René Desfontaines (1750–1831) and Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu (1748–1836). H ...
raised this subgenus to the rank of genus as ''
Tuberaria
''Tuberaria'' is a genus of about 12 species of annual or perennial plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, native to western and southern Europe. They occur on dry, stony sites, often close to the sea.
The leaves are in a rosette at the base ...
''; because the ''
'' forbids
tautonym
A tautonym is a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling, such as '' Rattus rattus''. The first part of the name is the name of the genus and the second part is referred to as the ''specific epithet'' i ...
s (such as "''Tuberaria tuberaria''"), the next oldest available name has to be used. In 1922,
Gonçalo Sampaio
Gonçalo António da Silva Ferreira Sampaio (29 March 1865 in São Gens de Calvos – 28 July 1937 in Porto) was a Portuguese botanist.
He studied mathematics at the University of Coimbra and chemistry, mineralogy and botany at the Polytechn ...
introduced the combination ''Tuberaria lignosa'', which is the name generally used today. Some botanists consider the species part of the genus ''
Xolantha'', in which case it is known as ''Xolantha tuberaria''.
Medical research
The plant has been researched for medical purposes in cancer treatment. An aqueous extract of Tuberaria lignosa inhibited cell growth, altered the cell cycle profile, and induced
apoptosis
Apoptosis (from ) is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms and in some eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms such as yeast. Biochemistry, Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (Morphology (biol ...
of NCI-H460 Tumor Cells.
References
External links
Dunal's publication of ''Helianthemum'' sect. ''Tuberaria''in de Candolle's ''Prodromus''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6153634
Cistaceae
Flora of Southwestern Europe
Flora of Italy
Flora of Sicily
Flora of North Africa
Flora of the Canary Islands
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus