Vicia dennesiana H. C. Watson

Sao Miguel Vetch (Vicia dennesiana 

This is a somewhat enigmatic species which was actually described from cultivated plants kept in the garden of Hewett Cottrell Watson, the species’ author.  

Some of these plants were also brought to the Royal Botanical Garden in Kew, Great Britain, but unfortunately all propagation efforts failed.  

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The Sao Miguel Vetch apparently was restricted to the island of São Miguel in the Azores, Portugal, where it was only ever recorded (sometimes between 1944 and 1949) from the Serra da Tronqueira. The only known population apparently was destroyed by a landslide, however, introduced grazing mammals may have played a much bigger role in its extinction.  

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Depiction from: ‘Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, Vol. 113, 1887’  

(public domain)

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edited: 29.05.2019