EUPHRASIA SALISBURGENSIS

Family and Genus:- See- OROBANCHACEAE

Common Names:- Irish eyebright

Homotypic Synonyms:- Euphrasia officinalis subsp. salisburgensis,

Euphrasia officinalis var. salisburgensis.

Meaning:- Euphrasia (Gr) Healthy-mind, gladdening.

Salisburgensis (L) From Saltzburg, Austria.

General description:- Short, reddish-purple perennial, glandular-hairy.

Stems:-

1) Up to 20(-25) cm, with 0-7 pairs of slender, erect or patent branches. Cauline

internodes up to 3(-4) times as long as the leaves.

Leaves:-

1) 3-13(-17) mm, usually strongly tinged with purple, glabrous or minutely scabrid,

with the teeth distant from the leaf-base and at least the two distal pairs distant

from each other.

2) Cauline, up to 5 mm wide (excluding teeth), cuneate-obovate, to narrowly oblong-

ovate, with 1-4 pairs of subacute to aristate teeth.

3) Lower floral, up to 6·5 mm wide (excluding teeth), broadly obovate to narrowly

ovate or trullate, with 1-5(-6) pairs of acute to aristate teeth.

Flowers:-

1) Raceme, terminal, with leaf-like bracts.

2) Corolla, 5-7·5(-8·5) mm, usually purplish-pink;

a) lower lip, usually rather small. with emarginate lobes.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 4-6·5 mm, 2-3½ times as long as wide, oblong to elliptical, truncate to

emarginate, glabrous or slightly ciliate.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Doline, gravelly flats with thorn-cushion communities, rocky limestone

slopes. 1600-2000 m.

Distribution:- Scattered throughout mainland Greece and Peloponnisos. -

Widespread in W C & S Europe, extending to NW Anatolia. Rare on Crete, known

only from the Lefka Ori massif.

Flowering time:- Late June to early Sept.

Photos by:- Courtesy of Wiki-Commons