''Spergularia marina'', also called ''Spergularia salina'', is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...
in the family
Caryophyllaceae
Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactace ...
(the pink family).
[ It is known as salt sandspurry or lesser sea-spurrey.][ ''S. marina'' is a sprawling ]annual
Annual may refer to:
* Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year
**Yearbook
**Literary annual
* Annual plant
*Annual report
*Annual giving
*Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco
*Annuals (band), ...
or sometimes perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
, with stems up to long. Like other sea-spurrey species, its flowers have white to pink petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usuall ...
s, with sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...
s usually longer than the petals, at . Plants are salt-tolerant, being found by the sea and in saline areas inland.[
]
Taxonomy
The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...
in 1753 as ''Arenaria rubra'' var. ''marina'',Spergula
''Spergula'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. Their usual English name is spurry or spurrey. Commonly found in grassland, the genus originated in the northern hemisphere, but is now found worldwide.
Species
Spec ...
''.[ ]The Plant List
The Plant List was a list of botanical names of species of plants created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden and launched in 2010. It was intended to be a comprehensive record of all known names of plant species ...
accepts the placement in ''Spergularia'' .[ The species was placed in the genus ''Spergularia'' by J.Presl and C. Presl in 1819, who considered the specimens they saw to be a new species (''S. salina''), but several authors had previously elevated Linnaeus' variety to species rank, and the earliest of these brings ]nomenclatural priority
270px, '' Valid name (zoology)">valid name.
Priority is a fundamental principle of modern botanical nomenclature and zoological nomenclature. Essentially, it is the principle of recognising the first valid application of a name to a plant or an ...
, even though that species was transferred to ''Spergularia'' after 1819.
The nomenclature has been complicated by some errors. In 1822 Wilibald S. J. G. von Besser created the name ''Spergularia marina'', but based his analysis on a 1788 species name in ''Arenaria'' published by Albrecht Wilhelm Roth
Albrecht Wilhelm Roth (6 January 1757 – 16 October 1834) was a physician and botanist born in Dötlingen, Germany.
He studied medicine at the Universities of Halle and Erlangen, where he received his doctorate in 1778.
After graduation, he pr ...
, who intended to move Linnaeus' variety to a full species. Roth was unaware that Carlo Allioni had previously, in 1785, elevated the variety to ''Arenaria marina'', so Roth's name is now considered a homonym
In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones (equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definition, ...
. Besser's name ''Spergularia marina'' is now considered to be based on Allioni's name and consequently on Linnaeus' variety name; it brings nomenclatural priority from 1785.Peter Simon Pallas
Peter Simon Pallas Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussian zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia between 1767 and 1810.
Life and work
Peter Simon Pallas was born in Berlin, the son ...
in 1776. That phantom name came about because cited it after misreading ''Arenaria maritima'' as ''A. marina''.[
Lesser Sea Spurrey (Spergularia Marina) - geograph.org.uk - 203915.jpg
Spergularia marina (8691899047).jpg
]
Notes
References
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15577039
marina
A marina (from Spanish language, Spanish , Portuguese language, Portuguese and Italian language, Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a Dock (maritime), dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.
A marina dif ...
Flora of Europe
Flora of North Africa
Flora of temperate Asia
Flora of Eastern Canada
Flora of the Eastern United States
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Plants described in 1753