''Cerastium subtriflorum'', the Slovenian mouse-ear chickweed, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

plant species 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 ...

Caryophyllaceae Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactacea ...

. It is mostly restricted to the Slovenian and Italian Alps.

Species

German botanist

Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist and ornithologist. It was he who first requested Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate models for sci ...

was the first to describe the species in 1841, although he listed it as a

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''subtriflorum'' of taxon '' Cerastium lanuginosum''. Later Reichenbach mentioned the species in his work Flora Germanica Exsiccata under the name ''C. latifolium subtriflorum'' Rchb. ''C. subtriflorum'' was recognized as a species by

David Pacher David Pacher (5 September 1816, Obervellach – 29 May 1902, Obervellach) was an Austrian priest and botanist. He studied theology at the seminary in Klagenfurt, receiving his ordination in July 1840. Afterwards, he served as a clergyman in several ...

in 1886. Austrian botanist

Günther Beck von Mannagetta und Lerchenau Günther Ritter Beck von Mannagetta und Lerchenau (25 August 1856 in Pressburg, modern Bratislava – 23 June 1931 in Prague) was a prominent Austrian botanist. Life Ritter Beck-Mannagetta, son of a state prosecutor, studied at the University of ...

separated populations that grew in the valley of the river

Soča The Soča ( in Slovene) or Isonzo ( in Italian; other names fur, Lusinç, german: Sontig, la, Aesontius or ') is a long river that flows through western Slovenia () and northeastern Italy (). An Alpine river in character, its source lies in ...

and named them ''C. sonticum'' Beck. Later research done by other scientists did not recognize this taxon.

Description

This hirsute and glandular

species is a small and low growing plant that can reach up to 30 centimetres of height. Its sessile leaves are elliptical to ovate-

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

(lowermost leaves are in some cases

oblanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

) and are arranged opposite to each other. The flowers are bright white and arranged into

inflorescences An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

. The plant flowers between June and August. The fruit is a capsule. Its

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

number is 2n = 36.

Distribution

''Cerastium subtriflorum'' grows as an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

plant in the

Julian Alps The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large pa ...

of both

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, while it also occurs elsewhere, especially on the southern borders of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps and in the valley of the

Sava The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally th ...

river, as well as the vicinities of

Kamnik Kamnik (; german: Stein''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 26–27. or ''Stein in Oberkrain'') is a town in northern Slovenia. It is t ...

and

Nevljica The Nevljica is a river in the Municipality of Kamnik, Slovenia. It has its source below Kozjak Hill (737 m, near Črni Vrh v Tuhinju) and flows through the Tuhinj Valley. It also flows through the settlements of Nevlje and Mekinje. It is a left ...

in central Slovenia. It occupies both lowland regions and the alpine vegetation belt at elevations up to 2000 m. Its habitat usually contains

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...

substrate; most of the times the species can be found on rocky grasslands, screes, cliffs and in forest on humid stony ground. The current distribution is thought to be connected with Pleistocene glaciations, with the

South-Eastern Alps The Southern Limestone Alps ( it, Alpi Sud-orientali, german: Südliche Kalkalpen), also called the Southern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps south of the Central Eastern Alps mainly located in northern Italy and the adjacen ...

serving as the plant's refugium and allowing endemic species to prosper. '' Cerastium sylvaticum'', which shares some morphological characteristics with ''C. subtriflorum'', is present and more widespread in the same habitat. Analyses of both species'

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

show that they are closely related sister taxa. They are both

tetraploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contains ...

species, even though most of other ''Cerastium'' species exhibit higher poliploidy levels. Hybridisation may have occurred between them. ''Cerastium subtriflorum'' has not yet been studied for the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q15564632 subtriflorum Alpine flora Flora of Europe Flora of the Alps