| Malva phoenicea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Malva phoenicea flowers | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malvales |
| Family: | Malvaceae |
| Genus: | Malva |
| Species: | M. phoenicea |
| Binomial name | |
| Malva phoenicea | |
| Synonyms[3] | |
Malva phoenicea, often still known under thesynonymsLavatera phoenicea andNavaea phoenicea, is a large shrub of the familyMalvaceae and tribeMalveae,endemic to the island ofTenerife in theCanary Islands.[2][4]
In 1805 this species wasdescribed asLavatera phoenicea byÉtienne Pierre Ventenat. In 1836 Webb and Berthelot separated this plant from otherLavatera in a new, thenmonotypic genusNavaea,[3] named for Alonso de Nava y Grimón, (1757-1832), founder of the botanical garden inPuerto de la Cruz, Tenerife (Jardín de Aclimatación de la Orotava). The reason for including this species in a separate genus was the presence ofnectaries in the base of each petal, which is unique in the tribe Malveae. Published studies using molecular markers (chloroplast andITS sequences) support this separation, asphylogenetic trees showM. phoenicea in a basal position in relation to the rest ofLavatera-Malva complex, which would indicate it arrived on the islands in the distant past, when the genusMalva was just beginning to differentiate.[citation needed]
M. phoenicea is very rare and it is threatened. It grows only in northern cliffs in the massifs ofAnaga andTeno, on Tenerife.[5]
This plant presents a clear birdpollination syndrome, a phenomenon shared with another 12Macaronesian endemics (genusMusschia,Lotus,Isoplexis,Canarina,Echium andScrophularia). This bird pollination syndrome is pretty rare in these latitudes and seems to have independent origins according to phylogenies of each lineage.[5]
Legally, the regional government declared the species to be a "protected plant" in 1991 and the species was listed in the 2001Catálogo de Especies Amenazadas de Canarias, these law were superseded by the 2010Catálogo Canario de Especies Protegidas law in which it was included in as a plant 'important to theecosystems of the Canary Islands'.[4]
It has not been assessed by theIUCN. The species was first assessed according to the IUCN standards in 2000 with the status of 'endangered', in 2004 as 'vulnerable' and in 2008 as 'endangered' again. A Spanish government publication already identified it as endangered in 1984, as did a regional government publication in 1996.[4]
