Digitalis transiens

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Digitalis transiens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Digitalis
Species:
D. transiens
Binomial name
Digitalis transiens
Synonyms[2]

Homotypic synonyms

  • Digitalis lutea subsp. transiens (Maire) Emb. & Maire
  • Digitalis subalpina var. transiens (Maire) Ivanina

Heterotypic synonyms

  • Digitalis lutea var. atlantica Ball (1878)
  • Digitalis lutea subsp. atlantica (Ball) Litard. (1928)
  • Digitalis subalpina var. mesatlantica (Maire) Ivanina
  • Digitalis transiens var. mesatlantica Maire (1940)
  • Digitalis lutea var. mesatlantica (Maire) Maire (1941)

Digitalis transiens is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae which is endemic to Morocco.[3] It was recently also classified as a synonym of D. subalpina.[4] It has yellow flowers with woolly hairs on its lip and throat, the corolla length is 11 to 13mm.[5]

Taxonomy[edit]

A specimen of Digitalis transiens collected at around 2,000 metres in altitude near Aït Mesan in the Atlas Mountains by Johannes Justus Rein and Karl Fritsch during their excursion to Morocco in the early 1870s had been misidentified as D. atlantica, and using that misidentification, in 1878 the Irish botanist John Ball then synonymised D. atlantica to D. lutea in error.[6][7]

It took until 1940 before the French botanist René Maire described it as a new species,[1] but it has since had a confused and turbulent taxonomic history.[2] Karol Marhold in 2011 in the Euro+Med Plantbase, for example, does not even recognise the species, but does include two different taxa both called D. atlantica, the correct one endemic to Algeria, and the other Moroccan one without authority attribution presumably being D. transiens.[8]

Description[edit]

Based on Ball's 1878 description, it is distinguished from Digitalis lutea by having smaller, more abundant flowers, and the leaves in the inflorescence being somewhat bract-like.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Digitalis transiens". International Plant Names Index. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Digitalis lutea var. atlantica Ball". African Plants Database. Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève & South African National Biodiversity Institute. 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Digitalis transiens Maire". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Digitalis subalpina Braun-Blanq". The Plant List. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Digitalis transiens - Plant Biodiversity of South-Western Morocco". teline.fr. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  6. ^ a b Ball, John (1878). Spicilegium florae Maroccanae (in Latin). Vol. 16. London: Taylor and Francis. p. 599. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.11003.
  7. ^ Driesch, Ursula von den (2003). "Rein, Johann(es) Justus". Neue Deutsche Biographie 21 (in German). Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  8. ^ Marhold, Karol (2011). Greuter, Werner; von Raab-Straube, E. (eds.). "Details for: Digitalis". Euro+Med Plantbase. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem. Retrieved 25 November 2020.