Notas do Herbário Florestal do INRB (LISFA): Fasc. XXXI

 

∫1. Novarum Flora Lusitana Commentarii

In memoriam A.R. Pinto da Silva (1912 –1992)

 

Roberto Jardim, Centro de Ciências da Vida, Universidade da Madeira, 9000-390 Funchal, Portugal, rjardim@netmadeira.com;

Miguel Menezes de Sequeira, Centro de Ciências da Vida, Universidade da Madeira, 9000-390 Funchal, Portugal, sequeira@uma.pt

 

On Plantago costae Menezes a forgotten species of the Madeira Flora

In Macaronesia 4 taxa of woody Plantago are referred: P. arborescens Poir. (endemic from Canary Islands), P. maderensis Decne. (endemic from Madeira archipelago and Gran Canaria), P. famarae Svent. and P. webbii Barnéoud (both endemic from the Canary Islands) (ACEBES GINOVÉS et al., 2004; JARDIM & MENEZES DE SEQUEIRA, 2008).

Carlos Azevedo de Menezes, a Madeiran botanist (1863-1928) published in 1926 (effectively in 1927) a new species of Plantago under the name Plantago costae Menezes based on a single collection. Menezes dedicates the species to José G. da Costa who first collected the plant in 1922. The original description is here transcribed:

"Fruticosa, ramosa, pubescens; foliis ternatim verticillatis, linearibus; pedunculis axilaribus, erectis, foliis brevioribus; spicis capitatis, paucifloris; bracteis inferioribus longe acuminatis, interdum spicam superantibus; calycis segmentis pubescentibus, subaequalibus, ovatolanceolatis, acuminatis, margine scariosis, corollae lobis ovato-lanceolatis, acutis. Folia 4-7 cm. longa, 1 ½ mm. lata. Pedunculi 3-4 cm. longi. Spicae 6-12 mm. longae. Bracteae inaequales, inferiores usque ad 20 mm. longae. Differt a P. maderensi, Dcne. foliis verticillatis, bracteis majoribus, segmentis calycinis acuminatis, etc."

Latter COSTA (1927) found several populations of P. costae in the higher regions of Madeira, detailing the ecology given by MENEZES (1926).

HANSEN (1969) included P. costae under P. arborescens var. compacta Barnéoud. VIEIRA (1992) and HANSEN & SUNDING (1985, 1993) consider P. costae as a synonym of P. arborescens subsp. maderensis. However the taxon was omitted by PRESS (1994) and JARDIM & MENEZES DE SEQUEIRA (2008). The description given by PRESS (1994) fully corresponds to Plantago maderensis.

The examination of collected material and herbarium specimens (MADJ, MADS, MADM, LISU and MA) allowed the recognition of two distinct taxa of fruticose Plantago in Madeira archipelago.

The morphological resemblance of P. costae with P. arborescens clearly suggests that a subspecific rank should be applied, accordingly a new status is proposed for Plantago costae.

 

1. Plantago arborescens Poir. subsp. costae (Menezes) M. Seq. & R. Jardim, comb. nov.

≡ Plantago costae Menezes in J. Sci. Mat. Fis. Nat. Lisboa, 24 (Ser. 3, vol. 5): 186 (1927).

2. Plantago maderensis Decne., Prodr. (DC.) 13(1): 733 (1852)

≡ Plantago arborescens Poir. var. compacta Barnéoud, Monogr. Plantag. 50 (1845)

Plantago arborescens Poir. var. maderensis (Decne.) Pilg., Pflanzenr. (Engler) [Heft 102] 4, Fam. 269: 431 (1937)

Plantago arborescens Poir. subsp. maderensis (Decne.) A.Hansen & G.Kunkel in Monogr. Biol. Canar. 3: 69 (1972)

Psyllium maderense (Decne.) H. Dietr. in Wiss. Zeitschr. Friedrich-Schiller Univ. Jena, Mat.-Naturwiss. 29(4): 573 (1980),

Plants from higher altitudes (above 900 m) clearly present the distinct morphology of P. arborescens subsp. costae, i.e. leaves are verticillate (instead of opposite), linear to linear-lanceolate, pubescent; bracts are large and leafy, pubescent; sepals are pubescent, acute to acuminate with broad scarious margins; corolla lobes are acuminate. Table 1 summarizes the diagnostic characters of P. arborescens subsp. costa (Figure 1) and compares them with P. maderensis (Figure 2).

 

Table 1 - Diagnostic characters of P. maderensis versus P. arborescens subsp. costae

 

Figure 1 -Plantago arborescens subsp. costae; (A, Habit; B, stem and leaves; C, heads)

 

Figure 2 -Plantago maderensis (A, Habit; B, stem and leaves; C, heads)

 

The distribution given by Menezes (1914) for P. maderensis "na região baixa da Mad." seems to indicate that no plants of P. arborescens s.l. were found by that time in the higher regions of Madeira. P. arborescens subsp. costae was first found by Costa in 1922 (MENEZES, 1926) close to Câmara de Lobos (a low altitude location in Ribeira dos Socorridos, possibly at no more than 100 m) but stated as rare. Latter Costa found the plant at much higher altitudes close to Encumeada (COSTA, 1927).

The distribution map of P. arborescens subsp. costae and P. maderensis (Figure 3) clearly shows the distinct ecology of these two species, P. maderensis restricted to coastal low altitude sites of all the Madeira archipelago islands and P. arborescens subsp. costae occurring on the higher altitudes of Madeira Island.

 

Figure 3 - Distribution of Plantago arborescens subsp. costae (■) and Plantago maderensis (□) in the Madeira archipelago

 

P. arborescens subsp. costae was until recently a common plant, with an increasing number of plants and populations, on the higher peaks of Madeira usually around 1500 m, due to the removal of goats and sheep. However the August/September 2010 fires caused the disappearance of populations and a massive reduction of individuals on surviving populations located on the eastern higher peaks of Madeira.

Plantago arborescens subsp. costae is clearly distinct from P. maderensis and further studies should contribute to clarify the taxonomic relations between the woody Macaronesian Plantago.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the help of Sandra Mesquita for the distribution map.

 

References

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