THE BULGARIAN FLORA ONLINE

Cytinus ruber

Red Cytinus

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Common name

Red Cytinus.

Scientific name

Cytinus ruber (Fourr.) Fritsch

Conservation status and threats

The species is PROTECTED in Bulgaria by the Biodiversity Act - it is prohibited to "picking, collecting, cutting, uprooting or any other manner of destruction of specimens in their natural range in the wild", as well as "possession, keeping, movement, transport, export, trade and offering for sale or exchange of specimens taken in the wild". These bans apply to "all stages of life of the plants"¹.

Listed in the Red Data Book of Bulgaria to the category "Critically Endangered"².

Threats

Habitat changes due to stock breeding, afforestation, tourism etc³.

Description and identification

Cytinus ruber is a perennial herbaceous plant without chlorophyll, parasite on the roots of Cistus incanus (Hairy Rock Rose).

Stem simple, up to 12 cm high, with red, scale-like leaves.

Bracteoles bright red. Inflorescence dense spike. Flowers unisexual; lower female, upper male.

Perianth white or pale pink, petaloid whorl, tubular-campanulate, 4-merous, 12–15 mm long, exceeding the bracteoles.

Stamens 8, united into a column.

Ovary inferior, style single.

Fruit a white berry, with numerous seeds.

Seed dispersal myrmecochorous.

Flowering May⁴.

Habitat and Ecology

Bulgarian locality is exposed to SE, at c. 300 m of alt. The soil is dry, rather eroded, with some rocky outcrops. The vegetation is composed of xerothermic scrub communities of a Mediterranean type⁵.

Distribution in Bulgaria

Strandzha Mts (nearby “Pirena” protected area and between Brodilovo and Kosti villages)⁶.

General distribution

Mediterranean area and Portugal⁷.

Map of general distribution⁸:

References

1 Bulgarian Biodiversity Act in english.

2 Cvetomir M. Denchev, Boris Assyov. 2015. In: Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria. Volume 1 - Plants & Fungi.

3 Cvetomir M. Denchev, Boris Assyov. 2015.

4 Cvetomir M. Denchev, Boris Assyov. 2015.

5 Dimitrov, D. S., Gusev, C. V. , Denchev, C. M., Sarkova, S. T. & Pavlova, D. K.: Cyrinus (Rafflesiaceae), a new genus for the Bulgarian flora. - FI. Medit. 7: 49-50. 1997.

6 Cvetomir M. Denchev, Boris Assyov. 2015.

7 Cvetomir M. Denchev, Boris Assyov. 2015.

8 Cytinus ruber (Fourr.) Fritsch | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science.

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