''Galium litorale'' is a rare species of

bedstraw ''Galium'' is a large genus of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the family Rubiaceae, occurring in the temperate zones of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Some species are informally known as bedstraw. There are over 600 spe ...

in the Rubiaceae

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 ...

. It is

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 ...

to the island of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

. In Italian it is known as ''caglio costiero''.

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1827 by Giovanni Gussone in the first part of his ''Florae Siculae Prodromus''.

Description

''Galium litorale'' is a perennial herb, from 20 to 60 cm in height. ''G. litorale'' characteristically has a

stoloniferous In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external ...

habitus. It is considered a hemicryptophyte or

chamaephyte A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Der ...

(a subshrub). The upper stems are

pubescent The adjective pubescent may describe: * people or animals undergoing puberty * plants that are hairy, covered in trichomes * insects that are covered in setae In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a ...

, with short

internodes A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant, the other being the root. It supports leaves, flowers and fruits, transports water and dissolved substances between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem, stores nutrien ...

. The leaves are narrowly oblanceolate in shape, 2-5 x 10–18 mm, abruptly pointed and somewhat rough in texture at their edges. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is erect and consists of a large, elongated panicle of many small white flowers. It has short, lateral branches. The peduncles are 1.5–3 mm, divaricating after each flower. The flowers have a white, pubescent corolla with a diameter of 3–4 mm and with

apiculate 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 ...

lobes. The fruit has a diameter of 2–3 mm, and is dark or blackish coloured when ripe. It appears to be most closely related to '' Galium'' species from North Africa, in particular ''G. poirelianum''.

Distribution

It is

to western

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, a large island belonging to

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 ...

. Here it can be found between

Marsala Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily. The town is famous for the docking of Gius ...

and Mazara del Vallo, near the coast in the far southwest of the island, at the closest point of the island to

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

in Africa. The total

area of occupancy Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open s ...

consisted of some 500 km² of habitat.

Ecology

It grows in the

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

coded as '5330' in the system used by the European Commission, which stands for "thermo-Mediterranean and pre-desert scrub". The preferred habitats have also been described as macchia, garrigue and grasslands. It grows in beach sands. It grows from

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

to 100 metres. It appears to have a special relationship with the small and spiny palm species ''

Chamaerops humilis ''Chamaerops'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Arecaceae. The only currently fully accepted species is ''Chamaerops humilis'', variously called European fan palm or the Mediterranean dwarf palm. It is one of the most hardy palms, ...

'', very often growing in the shelter of the spines, in an area of coastal garrigue where the palm is particularly common. It blooms from June or July to September.

Conservation

In 1992 ''Galium litorale'' was designated as a 'priority species' under Annex II of the Habitats Directive of the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

(which was reformed as the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

the following year). This designation was meant to serve as the basis for

to declare which areas in which it occurs are ' Special Areas of Conservation' -which were to form the backbone of the

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectively ...

network, but only if these areas include one of the number of

s listed in Annex I of the directive (such as seashores). The total number of plants was estimated by the

Commission of the European Communities The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

in 2009 to be at less than a thousand individuals according to the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. The species was listed as '

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

' by the IUCN in 2011. The species was assessed for the second time by the Government of Italy in 2013 in light of Article 17 of the Habitats Directive (a report every six years), and it was given the conservation status of 'U1': "unfavourable-inadequate", as in 2007. It was assessed again in 2019, and after "improved knowledge", the status of species was graded at the more grave 'U2': "unfavourable-bad". The population is not fragmented, but exists in one extensive area. The future prospects for this species were considered 'bad'. The population was unknown and had never been estimated by the Italian state according to the 2013 European assessment report, nor was it counted in the 2020 report. According to the 2011 IUCN assessment, based on the 2009 European assessment report, the species appeared to be threatened by natural

succession Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...

of the native vegetation, which may be precipitated by stated regional changes in agriculture, such as less

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

production, and lower amounts of

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

. The two other threats are said to be mining, and recreational activities (which is elsewhere also called "vandalism" in the assessment). However, according to the 2013 European assessment report, the main threats were said to be "discontinuous urbanisation" and issues with

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

s, although the report is unclear if there are too many fires or too much fire suppression. There are no specific conservation measures reported for the species. It is

protected Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

in two Natura 2000 sites: Sciare di Marsala and the system of dunes at Capo Granitola, Porto Palo and Foce del Belice.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3757648 litorale Endemic flora of Sicily Plants described in 1827 Habitats Directive species