''Monanthes anagensis'' is the largest

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 ...

Monanthes ''Monanthes'' is a genus of small, succulent, subtropical plants of the family Crassulaceae. Most species in the genus are endemic to the Canary Islands, with one species also endemic to the Savage Islands and another to the High Atlas mountains ...

'', forming little

bushes A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

about high. Leaves are laxly spaced, linear-elliptic, quite smooth, and long. When stunted, it somewhat resembles ''

Monanthes laxiflora ''Monanthes'' is a genus of small, succulent, subtropical plants of the family Crassulaceae. Most species in the genus are endemic to the Canary Islands, with one species also endemic to the Savage Islands and another to the High Atlas mountains ...

'' but differs from any form of that variable species in its distinctly

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

by habit, alternate (not opposite) longer and narrower leaves which are green, red, or purplish, never grey, and ovoid buds, the buds of ''M. laxiflora'' being broader than long.

Habitat

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 ...

; local

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 ...

of the island of

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

and abundant along the watershed of the Anaga Mountains, at an altitude of .

Description

A small, erect,

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

, much-branched

sub-shrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or undershrub is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum). The term is often intercha ...

, up to high and wide. Roots fibrous. Branches grey, tortuous, bare save near the apices (more leafy in cultivation). Leaves alternate, not rosulate, sessile, glabrous, linear-elliptic (or in cultivation linear), rather blunt, subtereta, flattish and channelled on face, about 1.5 cm (in cultivation up to 2.5 cm) long, 4 mm broad, 3 mm thick, green, in exposure red or purple. Inflorescence pseudo-terminal, 2 to 6 flowered, racemose, pedicels glabrous, filiform, up to 2.5 cm long. Buds broadly ovoid. Flowers 7-parted, 1 cm across, greenish-yellow.

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glabrous, cut halfway down into deltoid subacute segments.

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 deltoid-lanceolate, acute, 4 mm long, greenish-yellow with reddish nerve. Stamens nearly equaling the petals, filaments reddish,

anther The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s yellow. Scales 1 mm long, 1,5mm broad, narrow below, expanded above into two subcircular scrabid pale green lobes. Carpels 2,5 mm long, the short styles at first erect, later divergent. Flowering May–June.

References

anagensis Endemic flora of the Canary Islands Plants described in 1925 Flora of Tenerife {{Crassulaceae-stub