''Lotus berthelotii'' is a flowering plant

endemic 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 ...

to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

of Spain, in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Lotus'' of the pea

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

. Among its common names are lotus vine flower, parrot (or parrot's) beak, pelican beak, and coral gem. This plant is widely cultivated but is either extinct in the wild or persists as a few individuals. In 1884 it was already classed as "exceedingly rare" and plant collection probably hastened its decline.

Description

''Lotus berthelotii'' is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

prostrate shrub or subshrub, growing to with a creeping or trailing habit. The leaves are divided into 3-5 slender leaflets, each leaflet 1–2 cm long and 1 mm broad, densely covered with fine silvery hairs. The flowers are orange-red to red, shaped like upward facing beaks on short stalks, but slender, 2–4 cm long and 5–8 mm broad.

Pollination

The flowers of ''Lotus berthelotii'' and some other Canary Island species appear to be adapted for bird pollination. It was once thought that the original pollinators of these plants (and other genera such as '' Isoplexis'' and '' Canarina'') were

sunbird Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly i ...

s which had become extinct on the Canary Islands, explaining why they are rare and considered endangered species (Vogel 1954; Vogel et al. 1984; Valido et al. 2004). However more recent work has shown that these plants are adequately pollinated by non-specialist flower visiting birds, particularly the Canary Islands chiffchaff (''Phylloscopus canariensis''), and in fact show some specific adaptations to infrequent pollination by these birds, such as extended flower lifespans.(Ollerton et al. 2008) However, the cultivated population studied by Ollerton et al. (2008) set no fruit, despite the plants receiving large amounts of pollen on their stigmas. This may be because the population was a single, self incompatible clonal

genotype The genotype of an organism is its complete set of genetic material. Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. The number of alleles an individual can have in a ...

; whether this is true of all plants in cultivation is unknown, but may have important implications for the conservation of this species if it is extinct in the wild.

Cultivation

''Lotus berthelotii'' is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

with its needle-like silvery foliage and red

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s for: traditional

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

s, container (pots), and drought tolerant water conserving gardens. It has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

. A golden orange flowering

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

is also grown. As it is intolerant of freezing temperatures, in cold

temperate climate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ra ...

s it requires the protection of glass in the winter months. It needs a sheltered spot in full sun.

References

External links

*Ollerton, J, Cranmer, L, Stelzer, R, Sullivan, S, and Chittka, L (2008) Bird pollination of Canary Island endemic plants. Nature Precedings *Valido A, Dupont YL, Olesen JM (2004) Bird-flower interactions in the Macaronesian islands. Journal of Biogeography 31: 1945-1953 *Vogel S (1954) Blütenbiologische Typen als Elemente der Sippengliederung. Botanische Studien (Jena) 1: 1-338 *Vogel S, Westerkamp C, Thiel B, Gessner K (1984) Ornithophilie auf den Canarischen Inseln. Plant Systematics and Evolution 146: 225-248
U.Regensburg: photo - ''Lotus berthelotii''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q5492395, from2=Q15537502, from3= berthelotii Endemic flora of the Canary Islands Drought-tolerant plants Groundcovers Flora of Tenerife