''Heliosperma'' is a genus of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
s in the family
Caryophyllaceae
Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family (biology), family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranth ...
. As such, it is closely related to the large genus ''
Silene
''Silene'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. Containing nearly 900 species, it is the largest genus in the family. Common names include campion and catchfly. Many ''Silene'' species are widely distributed, particularl ...
'', but its members can be told apart from ''Silene'' by the crest of long papillae on the seeds.
The majority of the species are narrow
endemics
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
from the
Balkan Peninsula
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
, but ''
H. alpestre'' is endemic to the
Eastern Alps
The Eastern Alps are usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley, up to the Splügen Pass at the Main chain of the Alps, Alpine divide, and down the Liro (Como), Liro River to Lake Como in the south. ...
, and ''
H. pusillum'' is found from the in northern Spain to the
Carpathians
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...
. Like members of the genus ''Silene'' and other related genera, ''Heliosperma'' is attacked by species of the anther
smut fungus ''
Microbotryum''. Cases of parallel divergence events between alpine and mountain populations have been reported in this genus.
Species
Around 15 species are currently recognised in the genus:
*''
Heliosperma albanicum''
K.Malý
*''
Heliosperma alpestre''
Rchb. – Eastern Alps
*''
Heliosperma chromodontum''
Rohrb. – Greece
*''
Heliosperma insulare''
Trinajstić – Croatia
*''
Heliosperma intonsum''
(Greuter & Melzh.) Niketić & Stevan. – Greece
*''
Heliosperma macranthum''
Pančić
*''
Heliosperma monachorum''
Vis. & Pančić
*''
Heliosperma nikolicii''
(A.Seliger & Wraber) Niketić & Stevan. – Kosovo
*''
Heliosperma oliverae''
Niketić & Stevan. – Montenegro
*''
Heliosperma pudibundum''
Griseb.
*''
Heliosperma pusillum''
Vis. – NW Spain, Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians
*''
Heliosperma retzdorffianum''
Maly – Bosnia and Herzegovina
*''
Heliosperma tommasinii''
Vis. – Montenegro, Albania
*''
Heliosperma vandasii''
Neumayer – Macedonia
*''
Heliosperma veselskyi''
Janka – Slovenia
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
Caryophyllaceae genera
Taxa named by Ludwig Reichenbach
{{Caryophyllaceae-stub