User:Manudouz/sandbox/Anthyllis barba-jovis

Anthyllis barba-jovis
Flowers of Anthyllis barba-jovis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Genus:	Anthyllis
Species:	A. barba-jovis
Binomial name
Anthyllis barba-jovis L.

General view of the plant

Anthyllis barba-jovis, the Jove's beard or silver bush, is a species of flowering plants of the family Fabaceae, native to the Mediterranean basin. It is a perennial woody plant, semi-halophilic, growing in particular on the Mediterranean coast.

Description

Anthyllis barba-jovis is a perennial shrub regularly exceeding 1 meter in height and rarely 1.50 m. Its branches are erect and the youngest show a handsome silver gray foliage. The alternate leaves are pinnate, with several narrow, elongated leaflets. The dorsal surface is green, and the ventral one is whitish silvery. Their hairy coating makes them a particularly resistant species to strong winds loaded with sea sprays.

The hermaphrodite yellow-pale flowers are grouped at the tip of the branches and turn brown as they age. Their flowering spreads out during the spring, from April to June. Pollination takes place through insects. The latter also carry out the dissemination of dried legumes which are constituted by a single seed per pod.

Distribution and habitat

Anthyllis barba-jovis is an endemic species from the west of the Mediterranean basin. Its distribution area includes Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa, and in Europe the former Yugoslavia, Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), Spain and France (including Corsica). In France, it occurs mainly on the islands of Hyères, Porquerolles and Corsica, as well as in the Massif des Maures.

It delights on maritime rocks beaten by violent winds laden with spray. More specifically, she likes the garrigues, thermo-Mediterranean moors of the eastern Mediterranean. In these crystalline biotopes, it develops in the company of Thymelaea hirsuta.