Figure 5 from Brullo et al. (2022) showing (A) a female near the type locality on Stromboli bearing ripe strobili; (B) a male on Strombolicchio; (C) twigs with male cones; (D) twigs with female cones; (E) detail of a ripe strobilus; and (F) twigs with ripe strobili (photos by S. Cambria).
Conservation Status
(unofficial)
Ephedra strongylensis
Stromboli ephedra, efedra di Stromboli.
Type: Italy, Sicily, Stromboli, Ginostra presso S. Lazzaro, 38.77986°N, 15.19575°E, 4 July 2022, S. Cambria s.n. (holotype CAT). No synonyms or infraspecific taxa. Morphologically, this species is most similar to Ephedra aurea, another Sicilian species, and to E. nebrodensis, also a Sicilian species (Brullo et al. 2022).
Dioecious subshrubs, erect, 40–100 cm tall, old stems woody, erect or procumbent, bark brownish-gray. Twigs erect, fasciculate, densely inserted at the nodes, green, cylindrical, with fine scabrous furrows, 0.8–1.2 mm diameter, internodes 10–35(–50) mm long, not easily disarticulating. Leaves opposite, 1–1.25 mm long, membranous, fused for most of their length, briefly free and not recurved at the apex, each with an acute green triangular rib on the back and a coriaceous basal ring, turning brown at maturity. Male cones ellipsoid, 4–7 mm long, 4–7 mm diameter, borne on 2.5–6(–10) mm long pedicels, usually opposite; bracts in 3–6 pairs, ovate, acute, connate for 1/2–3/4 of their length, 0.5–1 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, ovate; perianth exserted from the subtending bract, obovate, 2 mm long, deeply bilobed; synangiophore 2–2.5 mm long, long exserted from perianth, with 3–5 synangia, sessile, densely aggregated at top. Female cones uniovulate, ellipsoid, in clusters of 1-4, 5.5–6.5 mm long, 2.5– 3.5 diameter, borne on 2.5–10 mm pedicels; bracts green, connate, in 3 pairs, broadly ovate, rounded at apex, hyaline at the edges, connation varying: 4/5 in lower bracts, 1/2–2/3 in middle bracts and 2/3 in upper bracts; lower bracts 0.5–1 mm long, middle bracts 1.5–2 mm long and upper bracts 4.5–5 mm long, shortly mucronate at the apex; ovule 4–4.5 mm long, ellipsoid, 1.5–2.5 mm exserted from upper bracts; micropylar tube straight, ca 1.5 mm long, exserted 0.7–1 mm from the ovule. Female strobilus at maturity ovoid to globose-ovoid, 6–7 × 3.5–4 mm, bracts pale red. Seeds 5–5.5 × 2.5–2.6 mm, blackish-brown, slightly striate, fusiform, exserted 1–2 mm from upper bracts. Flowers in April-May; produces seeds July-August (Brullo et al. 2022).
This species differs from Ephedra aurea by having twigs with smaller diameter, leaves with a green triangular rib, male cones with a much longer pedicel and shorter bracts, a shorter synangiophore with few synangia, female cones with much longer pedicels and shorter, marginally rounded bracts, the lower and medium bracts longer connate, the upper one more briefly connate, ovule exserted farther from the upper bract, female strobilus at maturity smaller, with bracts pale red, seeds smaller and ellipsoid, longer exserted from the upper bracts (Brullo et al. 2022). See Brullo et al. (2022) for more detailed illustrations, seed micromorphology, pollen morphology, and an exhaustive comparison of morphological characters of similar species, including a key to Sicilian Ephedra.
Italy: Sicily, the Aeolian Islands of Stromboli and Strombolicchio (a tiny islet just NE of Stromboli). These are the only two known populations, and no female plants have been found at the Strombolicchio locale. Stromboli is an active volcano and both populations are on basaltic rocks in a xerophilous maquis characterized by Euphorbia dendroides, Pistacia lentiscus, Olea europaea, Artemisia arborescens, and Genista tyrrhena subsp. tyrrhena. This community also hosts several other endemic or rare plants, and this level of endemism is hard to reconcile with the geologic youth of this island, ca. 60 km offshore of mainland Italy and Sicily (Brullo et al. 2022).
Based on its narrow distribution, with an area of occupancy of ca. 800 ha, under IUCN criteria the species would be assessed as “Critically Endangered”. It occurs within a nature reserve (Riserva Naturale Orientata Isola di Stromboli e Strombolicchio), which affords some protection from direct human impacts, but threats to the species remain from wildfire and volcanic eruptions, which would have the potential to remove a large fraction of the population (Brullo et al. 2022).
No data as of 2025.01.29.
No data as of 2025.01.29.
See Brullo et al. (2022) for distribution on Stromboli.
The epithet comes from Strongyle, the Latin name of Stromboli (Brullo et al. 2022).
Brullo, Salvatore, Cristian Brullo, Salvatore Cambria, Vincenzo Ilardi, Giuseppe Siracusa, Pietro Minissale, and Gianpietro Giusso Del Galdo. 2022. Ephedra strongylensis (Ephedraceae), a new species from Aeolian islands (Sicily). Phytotaxa 576(3):250-264.
Last Modified 2025-02-10
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