''Aizoanthemum hispanicum'', or Spanish aizoon, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of plant in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae, or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is d ...

. It is native to northern Africa, the Mediterranean region and the Middle East where it grows on arid sandy plains, saline areas and in semi-arid habitats. It was first described as ''Aizoon hispanicum'' by the Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1753 and was in 2002 placed in the genus ''

Aizoanthemum ''Aizoanthemum'' is a small genus of plant in the family Aizoaceae, native to Namibia and Angola. It has only 5 species. Before being given their own genus, these species were considered a subgenus of ''Aizoon''. The genus name comes from the Gre ...

'' by the German botanist

Heidrun Hartmann Heidrun Hartmann, née Heidrun Elsbeth Klara Osterwald (born 5 August 1942 Kolberg; died 11 July 2016) was a German botanist. She worked at the University of Hamburg and specialised in Aizoaceae, Crassulaceae The Crassulaceae (from Latin ''cr ...

Description

''A. hispanicum'' is a sprawling annual herbaceous plant high with opposite, papillose, succulent leaves. These are lanceolate with entire margins. The solitary flowers have five white

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s which are yellowish green on the outside, 5 to 15

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s and an ovary with 5

locule A locule (plural locules) or loculus (plural loculi) (meaning "little place" in Latin) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus). In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usu ...

s giving a pentagonal fruit capsule containing 2 brown seeds in each locule. The fruits have an unusual mechanism for dispersing the seeds. When it rains, the locules gradually fill with water. Near the centre of the capsule, the covering membranes are arranged in such a way that they form a nozzle, and when further rain drops fall on the capsule, a jet of water and seeds is propelled through this nozzle; this allows the plant to scatter its seeds much more widely than is the case in related species that lack this mechanism.

Distribution and habitat

''A. hispanicum'' is native to

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Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

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and the Arabian Peninsula where it grows in compacted sandy soil in desert plains, saline areas and semi-arid regions. It also grows in the Mediterranean region and the Canary Islands.

Ecology

It has been found that the seeds of ''A. hispanicum'' germinate poorly in the laboratory when placed on a filter paper in the dark at . The germination rate can be improved by placing some soil nearby, by covering the seeds for a few days and then uncovering them, or by placing some covered seeds nearby. This suggests that both soil and covered seeds give out some gas, possibly

ethylene Ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) is a hydrocarbon which has the formula or . It is a colourless, flammable gas with a faint "sweet and musky" odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon-carbon double bonds). Ethylene i ...

, which stimulates germination in nearby uncovered seeds.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17149362 Aizoaceae