Erysimum baeticum
Erysimum baeticum is an annual to perennial herb endemic to some mountains in the SE of Spain. This species has two subspecies: Erysimum baeticum bastetanum is found only in the Sierra de Baza, inhabiting the subalpine pine forests, from 1500 to 2000 m. a.s.l.. Erysimum baeticum baeticum is a subspecies endemic to the eastern range of the Sierra Nevada, inhabiting subalpine shrublands. Both subspecies flower during late May through early July, displaying up to one hundred showy purple flowers arranged in several short stalks.
Plants germinate during early spring, and usually grow for 2–3 years as vegetative rosettes. Much mortality occurs at this stage due to summer drought. Surviving individuals flower during their second year. Erysimum baeticum bastetanum is monocarpic, most individuals dying after flowering. Erysimum baeticum baeticum is mostly polycarpic, since an important proportion of individuals reproduce more than once.
Morphology
Reproductive plants produce one to eight reproductive stalks. Each flowering stalk can display between 5 and more than one hundred bright purple, hermaphroditic, slightly protandrous flowers arranged in corymbous inflorescences. Flowering stalks are tall in E. baeticum bastetatum, and very short in Erysimum baeticum baeticum. Flowers produce minute amount of nectar in four nectaries. Flower shape is extremely variable, ranging from radially to bilaterally symmetric even in the same population.
Pollination biology
Information of pollination biology exists only for Erysimum baeticum baeticum. Flowers are visited by over 50 species of insects belonging to the order Hymenoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Heteroptera. Abundant pollinators are the beetles Meligethes maurus, Dasytes subaeneus, and Malachius laticollis, the solitary bees Anthophora leucophaea and Colletes sp, and the ants Proformica longiseta, Lasius niger and Cataglyphis velox. However, ants can act both as true pollinators and as nectar robbers.
Herbivory
In southeastern Spain, reproductive individuals are consumed by many different species of herbivores, although more information is required. Some floral buds do not open because they are galled by flies. Several species of sap-suckers feed on the reproductive stalks during flowering and fruiting. In addition, stalks are bored into by a weevil species, which consumes the inner tissues, whereas another weevil species develops inside the fruits, living on developing seeds and acting as predispersal seed predators. The stalks are browsed by Spanish ibex, which consume flowers and mostly green fruits. Dispersed seeds are consumed by woodmice, several species of birds, several species of medium-sized granivorous beetles, and ants. These animals feed on the seeds from late August to early April. Seedlings and juveniles are sometime injured by ibex, sheep, wild boars, hares, and voles, although most seedlings die due to summer drought and seed quality.