''Erysimum nevadense'' 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 ...

short-lived

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

endemic to the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, although there are some citations in the nearby Sierra de Gádor (

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

). This wallflower occurs between 1,700 and 2,700 m above sea level in subalpine scrublands and alpine meadows. It may be treated as a narrowly circumscribed single species, one of a group or complex of six separate species, or as a more broadly circumscribed species with six subspecies.

Description

''Erysimum nevadense''

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

(

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

''Erysimum nevadense'' subsp. ''nevadense'') is a biennial or

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

, generally branched with multiple flowering stems, usually less than high. It is well supplied with hairs, most of which are boat-shaped (navicular), although some are three-rayed. Its leaves, which may appear greyish-green because of the hairs, are much narrower than long, usually long by wide. The flowering stems, excluding the

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

of flowers, are long. Individual flowers have yellow

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s that are long and wide and a

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

long. The fruits are upright or drooping, usually less than long on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to 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 branch ...

up to long.

Taxonomy

''Erysimum nevadense'' was first described by Georges François Reuter in 1855. In 1979, Adolf Polatschek described a number of new species of ''Erysimum''. Six of these were considered to be closely related to ''E. nevadense'', and in 1990, Peter William Ball explained the decision made in ''

Flora Europaea The ''Flora Europaea'' is a 5-volume encyclopedia of plants, published between 1964 and 1993 by Cambridge University Press. The aim was to describe all the national Floras of Europe in a single, authoritative publication to help readers identify ...

'' to reduce the six to subspecies of ''E. nevadense''. They were treated as separate species making up the ''nevadense'' group or complex in ''Flora Iberica'' in 1993. A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2014 included four of the species, '' E. gomez-campoi'', '' E. mediohispanicum'', ''E. nevadense'' and '' E. rondae''. The study did not support the view that the four were closely related. In the combined

mitochondrial A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used ...

and

nuclear DNA Nuclear DNA (nDNA), or nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid, is the DNA contained within each cell nucleus of a eukaryotic organism. It encodes for the majority of the genome in eukaryotes, with mitochondrial DNA and plastid DNA coding for the rest. ...

analysis, ''E. mediohispanicum'' and ''E. nevadense'' fell into one clade, ''E. rondae'' into another, while ''E. gomez-campoi'' was sister to both clades. The authors concluded that the ''E. nevadense'' group did not have phylogenetic support.

Subspecies

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

divides ''Erysimum nevadense'' into six subspecies, which ''Flora Iberica'' treats as separate species. *''Erysimum nevadense'' subsp. ''fitzii'' (Polatschek) P.W.Ball = '' Erysimum fitzii'' Polatschek *''Erysimum nevadense'' subsp. ''gomez-campoi'' (Polatschek) P.W.Ball = '' Erysimum gomez-campoi'' Polatschek *''Erysimum nevadense'' subsp. ''mediohispanicum'' (Polatschek) P.W.Ball = '' Erysimum mediohispanicum'' Polatschek *''Erysimum nevadense'' subsp. ''merxmuelleri'' (Polatschek) P.W.Ball = '' Erysimum merxmuelleri'' Polatschek *''Erysimum nevadense'' subsp. ''nevadense'' = ''Erysimum nevadense'' Reut., ''sensu stricto'' *''Erysimum nevadense'' subsp. ''rondae'' (Polatschek) P.W.Ball = '' Erysimum rondae'' Polatschek

Pollination biology

Flowers are visited by many species of insects belonging to the order

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typi ...

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advance ...

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

and

Heteroptera The Heteroptera are a group of about 40,000 species of insects in the order Hemiptera. They are sometimes called "true bugs", though that name more commonly refers to the Hemiptera as a whole. "Typical bugs" might be used as a more unequivocal al ...

. Most abundant flower visitors are '' Proformica longiseta'' ( Formicidae), an ant species endemic to the Sierra Nevada and surrounding mountain ranges, '' Dasytes subaeneus'' (

Melyridae Melyridae (common name: soft-winged flower beetles) are a family of beetles of the superfamily Cleroidea. Description Most are elongate-oval, soft-bodied beetles 10 mm long or less. Many are brightly patterned in black and brown, yellow, ...

), '' Malachius laticollis'' ( Malachidae) and some species of beeflies belonging to the genus '' Bombylius'' and '' Parageron'' (

Bombyliidae The Bombyliidae are a family of flies, commonly known as bee flies. Some are colloquially known as bomber flies. Adults generally feed on nectar and pollen, some being important pollinators. Larvae are mostly parasitoids of other insects. Over ...

References

External links

evoflor
a web page on Erysimum floral evolution

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5396365 nevadense Endemic flora of Spain Perennial plants Plants described in 1855