''Coincya monensis'' subsp. ''monensis'', the Isle of Man cabbage, is a species of plant in the family Brassicaceae that is found in coastal habitats on the west of the island of Great Britain (from north Devon to Kintyre) and around the coasts of the Isle of Man.

Conservation status

The species is thought to naturally occur in only 22 localities and is endemic to the British Isles. It is listed as a nationally scarce British species and is in serious risk of extinction. The species was once abundant on the Isle of Man, hence its name, however, for an unknown reason its population has collapsed to only a few individual and isolated plants. On the Isle of Man, the Manx Wildlife Trust began propagating the species in their greenhouses in 2006. It is hoped that this will halt the decline of the species and prevent its extinction. In 2022 it was added to the Isle of Man’s red-list of plants of conservation concern.

Habitat

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, which must be well-drained yet moist. The plant can grow in acidic, neutral and

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...

soils, in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. ''Coincya monensis'' subsp. ''monensis'' needs mobile sand dunes where wind or other erosion prevents thick vegetation cover and allows areas free from vegetation cover for ''C. m.'' subsp. ''monensis'' to colonise. Trampling by walkers can help achieve this habitat, hence ''C. m. monensis'' can often be found growing along footpaths through coastal dunes.

Biology

The Isle-of-Man cabbage, a

dicot The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, t ...

plant, is biennial and grows to a height of 0.3 metres. It forms rosettes than can be up to a metre in diameter. The flowers have four leaves, are

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

and are pollinated by insects. ''Coincya monensis'' subsp ''monensis'' flowers from April.

Taxonomy

Other subspecies in the genus ''

Coincya ''Coincya'' is a genus of flowering plant that belongs to the family Brassicaceae. Three species of the plant are endemic to the British Isles, these being ''Coincya wrightii'' (Lundy cabbage), '' Coincya cheiranthos'' (nokkasinapit) and '' Coinc ...

'' are the Lundy cabbage, ''

Coincya wrightii ''Coincya wrightii'', known as Lundy cabbage, is a species of primitive brassicoid, endemic to the island of Lundy off the southwestern coast of England, where it is sufficiently isolated to have formed its own species, with its endemic insec ...

'', and the star mustard, ''Coincya monensis'' subsp. ''recurvata''. The star mustard, a plant introduced to eight U.S. states, is the same species as the Isle of Man cabbage but a different subspecies. It may have been introduced to the U.S. as the Isle-of Man cabbage and subsequently evolved through the

founder effect In population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It was first fully outlined by Ernst Mayr in 1942, using ...

and geographic isolation into a new subspecies. The

Manx Manx (; formerly sometimes spelled Manks) is an adjective (and derived noun) describing things or people related to the Isle of Man: * Manx people **Manx surnames * Isle of Man It may also refer to: Languages * Manx language, also known as Manx ...

name for the species is , literally 'Manx cabbage'. Outside the British Isles, the Isle of Man cabbage is also known as the star mustard,

wallflower cabbage ''Coincya monensis'' subsp. ''recurvata'', the star mustard or wallflower cabbage, is a subspecies of '' Coincya monensis''. It is found in eight U.S. states. It may have been introduced to the U.S. as the Isle of Man cabbage and subsequently ev ...

, tall wallflower cabbage and coincya. In its

scientific name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

, the specific descriptor is Latin for ''Manx''. In Latin, the Isle of Man is called .

References

* Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. ''Flora of the British Isles.'' Cambridge University Press (1962).

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5141590 Endangered plants Biota of the Isle of Man Flora of the United Kingdom Plant subspecies monensis subsp. monensis Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Taxobox trinomials not recognized by IUCN