''Sideritis pusilla'' is a

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), ...

of flowering plant belonging to the family

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil (herb), ba ...

Description

It is a

subshrub 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 interch ...

that reaches a height of 17-42 cm, without

stolons In biology, a stolon ( from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as a runner, is a horizontal connection between parts of an organism. It may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton. Typically, animal stolons ar ...

. The stems are brown or greenish, hairy on all sides. Leaves measure 8-17 × 3-5 mm, lanceolate or elliptical, with a mucronate apex and 1-3 broad teeth on each side. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

measures 5-35 × 1-1.5 cm, formed by 3-11

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagram ...

each containing 6 non-globose

flowers 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 ...

Bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also loo ...

are 5-10 × 8-10 mm, broadly ovate. The corolla is 8-9 mm, uniform in color, cream-colored, sometimes white. The nutlets (fruits) measure 2 × 1.5-1.7 mm, subtrigonous, ± smooth, shiny, and dark brown. 2n = 22, 26; n = 11, 13.

Distribution and habitat

This Lamiaceae species has an Iberian-African distribution and inhabits thyme-covered areas and scrubland on

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...

, marly, or

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...

substrates. ''Sideritis pusilla'' can be found in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, specifically in the provinces of

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

, Córdoba,

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, and the

Region of Murcia The Region of Murcia (, ; ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. The region is in area and had a popul ...

Taxonomy

''Sideritis pusilla'' was described by (Lange) Pau and published in ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

'' 2: 574. 1753.

Cytology

The chromosome number of ''Sideritis pusilla'' (Fam. Labiatae) and its infraspecific taxa is 2n = 22, 22 + 7B.

Etymology

* ''Sideritis'': The generic name derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

"''sideritis''," which can be literally translated as "the one that is or has iron." The plant was known to the ancient Greeks, specifically

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides (, ; 40–90 AD), "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of (in the original , , both meaning "On Materia medica, Medical Material") , a 5-volume Greek encyclopedic phar ...

and

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...

. Although Dioscorides describes three species, only one (probably ''S. scordioides'') is believed to refer to ''sideritis''. In antiquity, ''sideritis'' was a generic reference for plants capable of healing wounds caused by iron weapons in battles. However, others argue that the name derives from the shape of the sepal, which resembles the tip of a spear. * ''pusilla'': A

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

meaning "very small."

Subspecies

Flora Ibérica ''Flora Iberica: Plantas vasculares de la Península Ibérica e Islas Baleares'' ("Vascular plants of the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands") is a Spanish book series containing identification keys, descriptions, and illustrations of pterido ...

'' recognizes three subspecies in

and one more in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. For Spain, the subspecies are: * ''Sideritis pusilla'' subsp. ''pusilla'' * ''Sideritis pusilla'' subsp. ''granatensis'' * ''Sideritis pusilla'' subsp. ''alhamillensis''

Synonymy

The publication ''

'' does not recognize the taxa ''Sideritis marminorensis'' or ''Sideritis pusilla'' subsp. ''carthaginensis''. In the

, the latter taxon is protected under the category of "special interest". * ''Sideritis almeriensis'' Pau * ''Sideritis briquetiana'' Font Quer & Pau * ''Sideritis debeauxii'' Font Quer * ''Sideritis foucauldiana'' Sennen & Mauricio * ''Sideritis granatensis'' (Pau) Alcaraz & al. * ''Sideritis granatensis subsp. briquetiana'' (Font Quer & Pau) Socorro & Arrebola * ''Sideritis hirsuta var. granatensis'' Pau * ''Sideritis kebdanensis'' Sennen * ''Sideritis pusilla subsp. alhamillensis'' Obón & D.Rivera * ''Sideritis pusilla subsp. briquetiana'' (Font Quer & Pau) D.Rivera & Obón * ''Sideritis pusilla var. carthaginensis'' Font Quer * ''Sideritis pusilla subsp. granatensis'' (Pau) D.Rivera & Obón * ''Sideritis scordioides var. pusilla'' Lange

Common names

''Sideritis pusilla'' has several common names in Spanish, including garranchuelo (9), jajareña (2), jereña (2), rabogato (3), zahareña de la sierra, zajareña.

Notes

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15366633 Plants described in 1753 pusilla