SPECIES DESCRIPTION
CREPIS FOETIDA
Family:- COMPOSITAE/Sect. BARKHOUSIA
Common Names:- Stinking hawksbeard
Meaning:- Crepis (Gr) A name used by Greek philosopher Theophrastus.
Foetida (L) Foul smelling.
General description:- Low to medium, hairy annual.
Stems:-
1)10-50 cm, sparingly branched from the base or middle.
Leaves:-
1) More or less hispid.
2) Basal, up to 13 x 3 cm, oblanceolate, denticulate to 2-pinnate.
3) Cauline, elliptical, ovate, lanceolate or linear, runcinate to deeply pinnatifid,
sessile, auriculate.
Flowers:-
1) Capitula, 1 to many.
2) Involucre, 7-16 x 4-13 mm.
3) Outer involucral bracts, up to 0·75 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, c. ½ as long as
the inner, with usually predominantly glandular hairs.
4) Receptacle, without scales.
5) Ligules, yellow, reddish-purple on the outer face.
Fruit:-
1) Achenes fusiform, of 2 kinds: marginal achenes 7-9 mm, the inner 12-17 mm.
2) Pappus (4-)5-6(-7) mm.
Key features:-
1) Stems few, sparingly branched, with at least a few leaves.
2) Pappus (4-)5-6(-7) mm.
3) Outer involucral bracts up to 0·75 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, c. ½ as long as
the inner, usually predominantly glandular-hairy.
4) Inner achenes more than 12 mm, with the beak 1.5-2 times as long as the body.
Habitat:- Dry pastures, dry open shrubby vegetation, scrub. 0-1100 m.
Distribution:- Throughout Greece and widespread in Europe and SW Asia.
Sparsely distributed across Crete
Flowering time:- Apr-July.
Photos by:- Kind permission of Saxifraga - Free Nature Images
