HERNIARIA PARNASSICA subsp. CRETICA

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Herniaria (Gr) Bud or shoot.

Parnassica (L) From mount Parnassus, Greece.

General description:- Perennial, usually rather compact.

Stems:-

1) 3-10(-15) cm.

2) Glabrous to slightly puberulent.

Leaves:-

1) Short stalked, usually 2-4 mm elliptical to suborbicular, with minute, strongly

curved hairs appressed to the margin, the surfaces sparsely ciliate to glabrous.

Flowers:-

1) 1·5 mm, the clusters more or less distinct, or ± contiguous.

2) Sepals, 5 c.1 mm, usually glabrous, rarely with few hairs on the dorsal surface.

Often purplish, with white margins.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule c. 0·75 mm, ovoid-globose.

Key features:-

1) Leaves hirsute on both surfaces at least when young.

2) Sepals glabrous, ciliate or sparsely hairy.

3) Flowers 1-1·5 mm.

Habitat:- Snowbed meadows and gravelly flats. 1200-2100 m.

Distribution:- Mountains of Peloponnisos and mainland Greece (not NE), extending

to S. Albania. On Crete confined to the four main massifs.

Flowering time:- May to early Aug.

Photos by:- Zacharias Angourakis