Digitalis mariana
Digitalis mariana is a flowering plant species in the family Plantaginaceae. It is a perennial foxglove with evergreen foliage and rose-red coloured flowers produced in summer. It is native to Portugal and Spain. Taxonomy. "Digitalis mariana" was first described as a new species by the Swiss botanist Pierre Edmond Boissier in 1841. Although the "Flora Ibérica" (2009) and the "Plants of the World Online" website (2017) consider it to be a valid, independent species, the "Flora Europaea" (1976) and the "Euro+Med Plantbase" (2011) considered it to be two subspecies of "Digitalis purpurea": subspecies "mariana", and subspecies "heywoodii . Two infraspecific taxa are accepted: Description. The two subspecies can be distinguished by their flower colour and the indumentum on their inflorescence. The nominate form has purple-pink flowers and short glandular hairs of only 0.3-0.4mm in length, heywoodii" has flowers which are white, very rarely yellowish, sometimes with a pinkish line of various shades along the margin of the corolla, and the inflorescence is covered in longish, non-glandular hairs of 2-4mm. The nominate taxon is locally known in Spanish as "campanitas" or "dedalera". The Spanish name "verdolobo" has been recorded for the subspecies "heywoodii . Similar species. Its native range it closely resembles Digitalis thapsi", which was also remarked upon by the first botanist to distinguish it as a new species, Boissier. In the dichotomous key in the "Flora Iberica", it is keyed out to "D. minor", "D. purpurea" and "D. thapsi". "Digitalis thapsi" is clearly distinguished by having a very sticky indumentum formed exclusively of yellowish, glandular hairs which are up to 0.6mm in length, and having leaves in the middle of the rosette which are clearly decurrent. "Digitalis minor", an endemic of the Balearic Islands, is not sympatric to "D. mariana". It  is distinguished by having the capsule (fruit) clearly shorter than the calyx, a lower lip of the corolla with highly developed lateral lobes which are auricular (ear-like) in shape, clearly split down to the mouth of the tube. "Digitalis purpurea" is the most similar species, according to the "Flora Iberica" key, being separated from "D. mariana" by having a calyx with the sepals ordinarily more-or-less recurved towards the corolla, sometimes arranged patently, and the corolla tube gradually tightening towards its base. In "D. mariana" the calyx has sepals which are patent or subpatent and the corolla tube  abruptly tightens towards its base, distinguishing it from "D. purpurea". The capsule is equal or larger in length than the calyx, and the lower lip of the corolla has lateral lobes which are little developed, rounded, not auricular, nor split to the mouth of the tube, which distinguishes both these species from "D. minor". All three species are distinguished from "D. thapsi" by the indumentum lacking the long, yellowish, glandular hairs, being less sticky, and instead having silvery or greyish hairs, not all hairs being glandular -or when they are, these are all subsessile. Distribution. Both subspecies are primarily found  in the Sierra Morena mountain ranges of the southern Iberian Peninsula, which extend from Portugal to Spain. The nominate subspecies is more predominant in the east, the other to the west. The subspecies "heywoodii" has been recorded in Alto Alentejo in Portugal, and in Spain in the provinces of Badajoz, Cáceres, Córdoba and Ciudad Real. In Andalucía it is found in the northeast(???) of the region, on the southern flanks of the Sierra Morena, where it is uncommon. The nominate taxon has been found in Badajoz, Córdoba, Ciudad Real, Jaén and Sevilla, and perhaps also Huelva. In Andalucía it is  found in the northeast, on the southern flanks of the Sierra Morena, where it is uncommon. Ecology. Both subspecies grow in cracks in the stone in rocky areas. The subspecies "heywoodii" is most often found in fissures in granite and slate. The nominate subspecies is usually found in more acidic soils, and often in rock falls, loose scree or among boulders. The specific phytosociological suballiance and alliance wherein both subspecies occur is called 'Rumici indurati-Dianthion lusitani', which is in the order 'Phagnalo saxatilis-Rumicetalia indurati', in the class 'Phagnalo saxatilis-Rumicetea indurati'. It is a characteristic species of this  phytocoenosis. In this habitat it occurs together with these following characteristic species: "Antirrhinum graniticum" subsp. "graniticum", "Antirrhinum rupestris", "Arrhenatherum fernandesii", "Biscutella bilbilitana", "Centaurea monticola" subsp. "citricolor", "Centaurea pinnata", "Coincya leptocarpa", "Coincya longirostra", "Coincya pseudoerucastrum" subsp. "pseudoerucastrum", "Coincya rupestris", "Conopodium bunioides" subsp. "aranii", "Conopodium majus" subsp. "marizianum", "Crepis oporinoides", "Dianthus crassipes" subsp. "crassipes", "Dianthus crassipes" subsp. "sereneanus", "Dianthus lusitanus", "Digitalis thapsi", "Digitalis purpurea" subsp. "toletana", "Erodium mouretti", "Erysimum linifolium" subsp. "lagascae", "Festuca duriotagana", "Jasione sessiliflora" subsp. "tomentosa", "Scrophularia oxyrhincha", "Scrophularia sublyrata", "Sedum hirsutum" subsp. "baeticum", "Silene marizii", "Silene × montistellensis" and "Verbascum rotundifolium" subsp. "castellanum". Conservation. Both forms are legally protected  in Extremadura, where they have the status of a 'taxon of special interest'. "Digitalis heywoodii" was listed as 'not threatened' in a 1984 national list of rare or endemic plants of Spain, but in 2000 it was listed as 'vulnerable' in the "Lista roja de la flora vascular Española". Both subspecies were included as 'vulnerable' in the Regional Red List of Andalucía of 2005. The reason for this was that the different collection localities and populations in this region were small.