''Senecio gallicus'', an annual plant of the genus ''

Senecio ''Senecio'' is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae) that includes ragworts and groundsels. Variously circumscribed taxonomically, the genus ''Senecio'' is one of the largest genera of flowering plants. Description Morp ...

'' and family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...

, is a species that colonizes isolated habitats with

difficult Difficulty or Difficult may refer to: *A problem * Degree of difficulty, in sport and gaming *Counter-majoritarian difficulty, in legal theory *Difficult, Tennessee, a community in the United States * "Difficult" (song), by Uffie *Hill Difficulty, ...

environmental conditions. It is widespread across

southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...

and the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

in deserts and

xeric shrublands Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this h ...

, on

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslan ...

s and salty dry

coastal plain A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Co ...

s. ''S. gallicus'' is playing a predominant role in shaping patterns of genetic structure by presenting models of historical associations among population rather than patterns of ongoing gene flow.

Common names

* en, French groundsel * es, Azuzón de Alborán *french: Séneçon de France * it, Senecione gallico

Description

''Senecio gallicus'' has had more

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

description because it is an exceptional species among halotypes with a known intraspecific

phylogeographic Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the past to present geographic distributions of genealogical lineages. This is accomplished by considering the geographic distribution of individuals in light of g ...

structure which is also species specific. Comparisons of

allozyme Alloenzymes (or also called allozymes) are variant forms of an enzyme which differ structurally but not functionally from other allozymes coded for by different alleles at the same locus. These are opposed to isozymes, which are enzymes that perfo ...

and

chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it ...

variation in this species indicate that it persisted in

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

coastal refugia during glaciation periods. ;The Endangered One: ''Senecio alboranicus'', or azuzón de Alborán, is reported to be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to and critically endangered on Isla de Alborán by ICUN. Alborán is 7.1

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

and by of

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

extrusion Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex ...

situated from the port of Adra,

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

on the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

coast and from the

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was ...

on the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n coast (previously

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

). ''S. alboranicus'' is one of the 26 plants, 20

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...

s and 6 lichen cited as having inhabited the island, although, not all at the same time. :Typical of the tenacious genus ''Senecio'', the small shrub Azuzón de Alborán colonizes areas that could be described as disturbed and unstabilized as it does live where there is an accumulation of volcanic ashes and shell laden sand, historically perturbed by natural events and human activities. Also typical, this species produces three generations of plants each year and is non-competitive; the middle generation of ''S. alboranicus'' shares its part of the island with '' Lavatera mauritanica'' and '' Anacyclus alboranensis''. Atypical of the genus, this species is a

halophile The halophiles, named after the Greek word for "salt-loving", are extremophiles that thrive in high salt concentrations. While most halophiles are classified into the domain Archaea, there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryotic species, ...

, growing in soils with a known high concentration of salt. :Azuzón de Alborán can be found growing at altitudes between and . The restricted size of the island and the rarity of the habitat make azuzón de Alborán particularly vulnerable to changes. Climatic conditions (quantity and distribution of rain,

soil salinity Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization. Salts occur naturally within soils and water. Salination can be caused by natural processes such as mineral weathering or by the ...

, etc.) and human activities (the lighthouse was once staffed); there have been large fluctuations in the numbers of individuals each year. These fluctuations affect not only the number of individual plants but also their size and the number of flowers. The decline of this species could be caused by alterations generated by human presence (military occupancy, artificial environments, etc.) in addition to events like natural changes or biotic threats (competition, parasitism, diseases, etc.), alterations which probably not coincidentally describe many of the conditions that occurred from the mapping those years. :Isla de Alborán is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

, a marine park and an important ecological area for the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

and is especially protected by the

Barcelona Convention The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean, originally the Convention for Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution,Bern Convention. A permit is needed from the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

to visit Azuzón de Alborán on its island.

Distribution

Specimens of ''Senecio gallicus'' have been collected at altitudes of and above sea level. ;Native :

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...

: ::Southwestern Europe:

Alboran Alboran Island ( es, Isla de Alborán) is a small islet of Spain (province of Almería) in the Alboran Sea, part of the western Mediterranean Sea, about north of the Moroccan coast and from the Spanish mainland. The main buildings are an aut ...

Formentera Formentera (, ) is the smallest and most southerly island of the Pityusic Islands group (comprising Ibiza and Formentera, as well as various small islets), which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain). It covers an area ...

, Ibiza,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

;Naturalized and Native :

: ::Western Asia:

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

::Southwestern Europe:

, Ibiza,

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

::Middle Europe:

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

::North Europe: Sweden

Others

;Synonyms: :*''Senecio gallicus'' Chaix var. ''calyculatus'' Emb. & Maire status incertain :*''Senecio gallicus'' Chaix var. ''laxiflorus'' DC. status incertain :*''Senecio gallicus'' Chaix var. ''sonchifolius'' Ball status incertain ;Infraspecific names: :*''Senecio gallicus'' Chaix subsp. ''gallicus'' :*''Senecio gallicus'' Chaix var. ''calyculatus'' Emb. & Maire :*''Senecio gallicus'' Chaix var. ''laxiflorus'' DC. :*''Senecio gallicus'' Chaix var. ''sonchifolius'' Ball

References

External links

Google Map for Isla de Alborán
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Senecio Gallicus Flora of Spain gallicus Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN