Moricandia | |
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Moricandia arvensis | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Brassicales |
Family: | Brassicaceae |
Genus: | Moricandia DC. |
Species | |
See text |
Moricandia is a genus of plants of the family Brassicaceae. This genus is mainly distributed in North Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Europe. It is associated with arid and semi-arid environments. Flowers of this genus are actinomorphic-dissymmetrical and mostly lilac in color, although they vary from white to purple depending on the species and climatic conditions. Some species show extreme phenotypic plasticity for flower size, shape, and color. [1] The fruits are two-valved dehiscent siliques with one or two sets of seeds per valve. [2]
Moricandia shows high variability in the morphological characters used for identification, making this genus's taxonomy complex and, many times, controversial. [3] Eight species with a variable number of synonymies and subspecies are actually accepted. [4] Moricandia arvensis also known as purple mistress is the most widely distributed species of this genus. Moricandia moricandioides commonly known as violet cabbage, a native of the Mediterranean, is cultivated as a garden flower.
Some species of this genus perform C2 photosynthesis, [5] making them interesting in the engineering of C2 crops. [6]
Previously considered a Moricandia species, M. foleyi Batt. is now ascribed to the genus Eruca as Eruca foleyi based in phylogenetic analyses [8]
Brassica is a genus of plants in the cabbage and mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus are informally known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, or mustard plants. Crops from this genus are sometimes called cole crops—derived from the Latin caulis, denoting the stem or stalk of a plant.
C4 carbon fixation or the Hatch–Slack pathway is one of three known photosynthetic processes of carbon fixation in plants. It owes the names to the 1960s discovery by Marshall Davidson Hatch and Charles Roger Slack that some plants, when supplied with 14CO2, incorporate the 14C label into four-carbon molecules first.
Malva is a genus of herbaceous annual, biennial, and perennial plants in the family Malvaceae. It is one of several closely related genera in the family to bear the common English name mallow. The genus is widespread throughout the temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Europe.
Isatis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to the Mediterranean region east to central Asia. Its genus name, Isatis, derives from the ancient Greek word for the plant, ἰσάτις. The genus includes woad. Due to their extremely variable morphology, the Asian species in particular are difficult to determine; the only reliable diagnostic feature is the ripe fruit. They are (usually) biennial or perennial herbaceous plants, often bluish and hairless or downy hairy with the upright stem branched.
Bupleurum is a large genus of annual or perennial herbs or woody shrubs, with about 190 species, belonging to the family Apiaceae. The full size of its species may vary between a few cm to up to 3 m high. Their compound umbels of small flowers are adorned with bracteoles that are sometimes large and may play a role in attracting pollinators. Rare among the Apiaceae are the simple leaves, bracts, and bracteoles. The genus is almost exclusively native in the Old World Northern Hemisphere, with one species native to North America and one species native to southern Africa.
Diplotaxis (wall-rocket) is a genus of 32–34 species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae (Cruciferae), native to Europe, the Mediterranean region and Macaronesia; the species diversity is highest in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa and the Cape Verde archipelago. They are annual or perennial plants, either herbaceous or sub-shrubby with a woody base. The flowers are yellow in most species, but are white in Diplotaxis erucoides and violet in Diplotaxis acris. Some species, such as Diplotaxis tenuifolia and Diplotaxis muralis, have been historically used as leaf vegetables, are similar to Eruca sativa in their peppery flavour, and are used interchangeably with it.
Erysimum mediohispanicum is a perennial short-lived monocarpic herb found in many montane regions of eastern Spain where it is distributed between 800–2,000 m above sea level and inhabits forests, scrublands, and shrublands. It occupies two main regions in the Iberian Peninsula, one in the north and the other in the south-east. Erysimum mediohispanicum may be treated as one of a group or complex of six closely related species, or as Erysimum nevadense subsp. mediohispanicum.
Timarcha lugens (Chrysomelidae) is a wingless leaf beetle endemic to the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada (Spain). The genus Timarcha comprises a group of herbivorous species, widely distributed in Europe, Turkey, North Africa and Western North America, which inhabit a broad range of habitats, including high mountains, humid forests and sandy coastal areas. In the Iberian Peninsula, Timarcha is represented by more than 25 species, some of them inhabiting montane regions. In the Sierra Nevada, this genus is represented by four species, although only three of them, T. lugens, T. insparsa Rosenh., and T. marginicollis Rosenh., occur over 2,400 m (7,900 ft) altitude. While T. lugens and T. insparsa are endemic species of the Sierra Nevada mountains, T. marginicollis is also present in other mountain ranges in southern Spain. T. lugens distribution area spans from 2,400 to 3,200 metres above sea level, being the most abundant chrysomelid at these high-altitudes.
Erysimum nevadense is a perennial short-lived herb endemic to the Sierra Nevada of Spain, although there are some citations in the nearby Sierra de Gádor (Almería). This wallflower occurs between 1,700 and 2,700 m above sea level in subalpine scrublands and alpine meadows. It may be treated as a narrowly circumscribed single species, one of a group or complex of six separate species, or as a more broadly circumscribed species with six subspecies.
Rocket, eruca, or arugula is an edible annual plant in the family Brassicaceae used as a leaf vegetable for its fresh, tart, bitter, and peppery flavor. Its other common names include "garden rocket", as well as "colewort", "roquette", "ruchetta", "rucola", "rucoli", and "rugula". E. vesicaria is widely popular as a salad vegetable and it is a species of Eruca native to the Mediterranean region.
Eruca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, which includes the leaf vegetable known as arugula or rocket.
Erucaria is a genus of flowering plants of the family Brassicaceae, commonly known as Pink-mustard. It contains the following species:
Hormathophylla is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to the western Mediterranean; Morocco, Algeria, Spain, France and Italy. Perennial shrubs, they are adapted to dry, alkaline soils with high levels of magnesium.
Erysimum fitzii is a biennial or short-lived perennial plant native to southern Spain. It has been treated as one of a complex of six species making up the nevadense group, or as Erysimum nevadense subsp. fitzii.
Erysimum gomez-campoi is a short-lived biennial or perennial plant native to southern Spain. It has been treated as one of a complex of six species making up the nevadense group, or as Erysimum nevadense subsp. gomez-campoi.
Erysimum merxmuelleri is a biennial or short-lived perennial plant native from eastern Portugal to western Spain. It has been treated as one of a complex of six species making up the nevadense group, or as Erysimum nevadense subsp. merxmuelleri.
Erysimum rondae is a biennial or short-lived perennial plant native to southwestern Spain. It has been treated as one of a complex of six species making up the nevadense group, or as Erysimum nevadense subsp. rondae.
Henophyton is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Brassicaceae.
Moricandia arvensis, the purple mistress, is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It has a broadly western Mediterranean distribution, from the Canary Islands to northern Africa including Mauritania and Chad, the Iberian Peninsula, Italy and as far as Greece, and has been introduced to France, Corsica, and Sardinia. It has an intermediate C3–C4 carbon fixation system, known as C2 photosynthesis.