SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 23 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), an organisation affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, have identified three new species of wild roses on three of the tallest and most ancient volcanoes in the Canary Islands.
According to the scientists, the three newly discovered roses exhibit a unique combination of traits not found in any wild rose species in Europe or among the other populations in the Canary Islands. The findings have been published in Flora Montiberica.
The investigation is spearheaded by Pablo Vargas, a CSIC researcher at the Royal Botanical Garden (RJB-CSIC), Manuel Nogales, a researcher at the Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology (IPNA-CSIC), and Modesto Luceño, a professor at the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville. They were conducting a taxonomic study in the Canary Islands when they came across these previously undocumented wild roses.
“We propose three species new to science discovered in the tallest and oldest volcanoes of the Canary Islands: in the Roque de los Muchachos of La Palma (R. roque-muchachensis), in the canyons of El Teide (R. cannadas-teydensis), and in the Tejeda caldera in Gran Canaria (R. gran-canariae),” states Vargas.
A CLASSIFICATION OF CANARY ROSES
Cultivated roses are the product of the domestication of wild varieties. Specifically, the Rosa genus, consisting of around 150 species that serve as precursors to cultivated roses, has been extensively studied and cultivated across Europe, America, and Asia for centuries. The limited availability of populations and the taxonomic intricacies of Canary roses have only allowed for superficial examination, resulting in numerous ambiguous records dating back to the early 20th century. Nevertheless, despite the interest in the Rosa genus in Europe, an up-to-date classification for the entire Canary Islands is lacking. This has prompted researchers to undertake a comprehensive taxonomic study of the roses indigenous to the Canary Islands.
“Following the current taxonomic framework employed for European roses over the past sixty years, we propose at least six species of dog roses (section Caninae) for the Canary Islands, only two of which have been previously documented: Rosa micrantha and R. rubiginosa,” explains Pablo Vargas. “Certain distinguishing characteristics found in other populations across Gran Canaria and La Gomera align with a concept of a third species already recognised in Europe: R. nitidula Besser,” he continues.
Vargas, Nogales, and Luceño have meticulously examined nineteen key characteristics essential for the study of the Rosa genus within the Canary Islands. They interpret that the species of Canary roses remain relatively obscure due to various challenges faced by their European and African counterparts: “much confusion arises regarding the accurate names of species due to an absence of type specimens for many European species; only brief original descriptions exist; widespread hybridisation among species complicates the distinction between recent and stabilised hybrids; and the scholarly attention towards this particularly appealing genus for gardeners and botanists has resulted in the publication of an overwhelming number of synonyms that are hard to attribute,” the researchers conclude.
In the course of their research, Vargas and Nogales gathered wild rose specimens and examined a total of 75 samples housed in the herbariums of the University of La Laguna (TFC), the Acclimatization Garden of La Orotava (ORT), and the herbarium of the Royal Botanical Garden-CSIC in Madrid (MA).
Specifically, they have explored remote locations within the Canary Islands archipelago, aided by biologists from the local councils and national parks across all the islands: La Palma (F. Manuel Medina, A. Lerín), La Gomera (A. Fernández, R. Chinea “Sito”), Gran Canaria (I. Nogales, C. Suarez, S. Cabrera), and Tenerife (C. González Montelongo, Alfredo Reyes Betancort, M. Marrero). They have also examined type materials and original specimens found in the herbaria of the Linnean Society of London and the University of La Laguna in Tenerife.
