CARLINA DIAE

Family:- COMPOSITAE/Subgen. LYROLEPIS

Common Name:- None

Synonyms:- Lyrolepsis diae

Meaning:- Carlina (L) For Charlemagne (742-814) Emperor of Rome (whose army

was supposed to have been cured of the plague with a species of Carlina, which the

Archangel had revealed to him).

Diae (L) From the island of Dia, Crete.

General description:- Rigid perennial, strongly woody below. Plant densely

covered in short white-grey soft, matted hairs throughout

Stems:-

1) Flowering, 15-70 cm, erect, simple or sparingly branched above, sparsely leafy.

Leaves:-

1) Basal, oblanceolate, obtuse to acute, entire or rarely with a few teeth, densely

white- or grey tomentose.

2) Cauline, similar, but smaller Mostly crowded on short non-flowering branches.

Flowers:-

1) Involucre, broadly obconical.

2) Outer involucral bracts, 10-15 x 3-5 mm, entire or pinnatifid.

3) Inner involucral bracts 10-16 mm.

2) Outer phyllaries somewhat shorter, resembling ligules, pale yellow with brownish

or purplish tinge.

3) Florets, dull yellow.

4) Capitula 15-20 mm in diam, in small corymbs of 2-4.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes c. 5 mm sericeous.

2) Pappus, sericeous, shorter than the achene.

Key features:-

1) Plant rigid, entirely without spines.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Crevices of hard limestone cliffs, usually near the coast 0-150(-400) m.

Distribution:- Endemic to Crete.

Flowering time:- June-Aug.

Photos by:- Photos by Kind permission of Manolis Avramakis, Natural History

Museum of Crete.

Status:-

Conservation status (for threatened species): Vulnerable (V) according

to the Red Data Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece (1995).

IUCN 1997 Record it as Vulnerable (V).

Protection status (for threatened species): Greek Presidential Decree 67/1981,

Bern Convention, EU Dir.1992/43 (Ann.IV)