Volutaria crupinoides

Synonyms: Amberboa crupinoides (Desf.) DC., Volutarella crupinoides (Desf.) Ball

Volutaria crupinoides is a basal group of the subtribe of the Cardueae-Centaureinae which happened during late Oligocene and Miocene. Volutaria possibly originated from the East African – South Arabian region where the perennial species still live today. Xerophytic annual species expanded the morphological and distributional range of the genus and are now found in Northern Africa, Southern Spain, the Canary Islands, and also in the Middle East. Several different chromosome base numbers evolved in the genus, including a secondary one which points to the amphiploid origin of the hybridogenous species (Hellwig, 2004).