Jancaea

Full name and orig. publication: :Jancaea Boiss., Fl. Orient. 1: 4 (Feb. 1875).

Etymology: Named in honor of Viktor Janka von Bulcs (1837-1890), a Hungarian botanist. 

Synonym: Jankaea Boiss. (Sept./Oct. 1875).

Infrafamilial position: Didymocarpoid Gesneriaceae - "European genera” (Weber 2004).

Description: Perennial rosette plant. Leaves small, alternate, in a dense tuft, subsessile, lamina elliptical or ovate-acute, with a dense, woolly silver-white hair cover. Cymes axillary, pedunculate-scapose, flowers few, 4- (rarely 5-) merous. Sepals free, oblong. Corolla light lavender, tubular-campanulate, tube c. 1 cm long, limb slightly bilabiate, lobes ovate, rounded. Stamens 4 (5), included. Ovary ovoid, pubescent, style and anthers blackish. Capsule ellipsoidal, septicidally dehiscent.

Chromosome number: 2n = 56.

Type and only species: Jancaea heldreichii (Boiss.) Boiss.

Species names (incl. publication and synonyms): See Skog, L.E. & J.K. Boggan. 2005: World checklist of Gesneriaceae: http://persoon.si.edu/Gesneriaceae/Checklist.

Distribution: Greece (Thessalia: Mt. Olympus). 

Ecology: Growing in shady and humid crevices of limestone rocks, (100-)1000-2100 m.

Notes: The genus/species is unmistakable by the dense, white-woolly rosettes. It is closely related with (and has been sometimes included in) Ramonda, differing mainly in the tubular-campanulate corolla. The inclusion into Ramonda is supported by molecular data (Möller et al. 1999). In most papers and floras the name “Jankaea“ is used, but a proposal to conserve that spelling (Skog 1983) was not accepted.

Selected references: Rix & Webb in Tutin & al. (eds.), Fl. Europaea 3: 284-285 (1972); Skog, Taxon 32: 491-492 (1983), orthogr.; Möller et al. 1999, in Andrews, Leslie, Alexander (eds.): Taxonomy of cultivated plants. Pp. 253-264, 3^rd Int. Symp., Roy. Bot. Gard Kew (1999), molec. syst.

Bibliography: See Skog, L.E. & J.K. Boggan. 2005. Bibliography of the Gesneriaceae. 2^nd edition: http://persoon.si.edu/Gesneriaceae/Bibliography.

Illustrations:

Jancaea heldreichii (Boiss.) Boiss., only species Left: Rouy, Ill. pl. Eur. rar. 8: t.193 (1896) Right: A. & D. DC., Monogr. phan. 5/1, t. 18 (1883)

Jancaea heldreichii (Boiss.) Boiss., only species Left: phot. W. Barthlott Right: R. Myhr, The Gesneriad Reference Web http://www.gesneriads.ca phot. Wrightman Alpines

last modified: 2007-01-08