Malvastrum corchorifolium (Desr.) Britton ex Small, 1913.

Verloove, Filip, 2021, New records in vascular plants alien to Tenerife (Spain, Canary Islands), Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 62878-62878 : 62878

Malvastrum corchorifolium (Desr.) Britton ex Small, 1913.

Malvastrum corchorifolium Fl. Miami 119. 1913.

Distribution

TENERIFE: Granadilla de Abona, El Médano, beach, barranco de los Calderones, from sewage sludge, a single individual, 14.11.2016, F. Verloove 12680 (BR, LPA). https://observation.org/observation/205286307/

Notes

This species is native to Mexico, the West Indies, Central America and Florida in the U.S.A. It is weedy and often encountered elsewhere in the subtropics, for instance, in Africa (Ghana), but also in the Canary Islands. In La Palma, it was reported for the first time by Santos Guerra et al. (2013), whereas Kunkel (1968) already reported it from San Lorenzo in Gran Canaria a long time ago. The latter occurrence was apparently overlooked by Acebes Ginovés et al. (2010).

The Malvastrum weed, usually seen in the Canary Islands, for instance, in Gran Canaria where it is relatively frequent and much increasing lately, is M. coromandelianum (L.) Garcke. None of these two species has been reported before from Tenerife. In El Médano, a single individual of M. corchorifolium was observed in November 2016. The plant grew on the beach in a cumulation area of sewage sludge, along with tomatoes and other plants that germinated from the sewage water. It was no longer seen in the intervening years.

In general appearance Malvastrum corchorifolium resembles M. coromandelianum a lot (it probably is a hybrid of it). However, its mature carpels are muticous or have at most a blunt apical protuberance less than 0.2 mm long, whereas in the latter, mericarps are clearly aristate.