LIMONIUM ECHIOIDES
1. Limonium echioides (L.) Miller (1768: no. 11) (Fig. 3)
Basionym:-Statice echioides Linnaeus (1753: 275). Type lectotype designated by Erben 1978: 558):-[Icon] Limonium minus annuum bullatis foliis vel echioides in Magnol (1676: t. pag.156),
= Statice aristata Sibthorp & Smith (1806 : 213). Type (lectotype, designate here):-[Icon] Limonium minus annuum bullatis foliis vel echioides (Magnol 1676: t. pg. 156).
Description:-Plant annual, glabrous, forming a sub-shrub 5-45 cm tall, with few erect to ascending stems and a thin tap-root. Caudices very short, 5-10 mm long. Leaves in a basal rosette, withered at anthesis, 7-55 mm long and 3-16 mm broad, cuneate to spathulate, apex obtuse to round, dark green or purple when semi-dry, normally flat, surface with tuberculate glands, with one central nerve and pinnately branching lateral nerves, gradually
tapering into the very short petiole. Stems 3-40 cm long, straight to slightly flexuous, rugose, branching begins normally above the lower third. Inflorescence trullate or obovate in outline. Sterile branches absent. Fertile branches 4-50 mm long, straight to slightly flexuous, directed obliquely upwards, forming branching angles of 40°- 60°, sometimes branched in the upper half. Spikes very long, 2-18 cm, arched, directed obliquely upwards to spreading. Spikelets 6.5-8.5 mm long, composed of 1-4 flowers, very remotely arranged with 1-2 per cm, laterally slightly curved near the base, sometimes nearly clustered. Outer bract 1.8-2.3 mm long and 1.4-1.8 mm broad, triangular-ovate, acute to obtuse; bract margin narrowly membranous; central part fleshy, tuberculate, acuminate. Middle bract membranous, 1.9-2.3 mm long and 1.1-1.8 mm broad, oblong-obovate to oblong-elliptic, rounded. Inner bract 4.8-6.4 mm long and 2.4-3.5 mm broad, oblong to narrowly obovate, rounded to obtuse; bract margin very narrowly membranous; central part thick-fleshy, tuberculate with glands, 4.2-5.5 mm long and 1.8-3.2 mm broad, oblong-obovate, acuminate, forming a triangular tip, 0.5-1.0 mm long, reaching the upper margin. Calyx narrow, 5.3-6.1 mm long, exceeding the inner bract by 1.5-2.0 mm; calyx tube glabrous or with some short hairs in the middle part, with 5 ribs ending near the upper margin; calyx lobes ca. 1.0 × 0.3 mm, narrowly triangular, shortly dentate between the lobes; margin of calyx lacerate after anthesis. Corolla pale lilac.
Chromosome number:-2n = 18 (Erben 1978, R. Artelari & Georgiou 2003; Erben Li-537, Li-538, unpubl.).
Distribution:-Widespread throughout the Mediterranean. In Greece, it occurs in Sterea Ellas, Attika, Crete, Euboea, Karpathos, Kythira, Kythnos, Naxos, and probably on other islands too (Fig. 93A).
Habitat:-Limestone rocky coasts, sandy places near the seashore.
Typification:-
Taxonomic remarks:-This species was described by Linnaeus (1753: 275) from Montpellier (”Habitat in Monspelii”). The protolgoue consists of a short diangosis (“STATICE caule nudo paniculato tereti, foliis tuberculatis”), plus two synonyms cited, as Sauvage (1751: 15) and Magnol (1676: 157); the latter author provides an illustration (at pag. 156) that is part of the original material and was chosen by Erben (1978) as lectotype. Statice aristata Sibthorp & Smith (1806: 213) was described from Cyprus, by a short diagnosis and the same Magnol’s synonym cited by Linnaeus (1753: 275); an illustration referring to the later Flora Graeca (Sibthorp & Smith 1821:
t. 299) was also cited. It is interesting to note that Sibthorp & Smith (1806) changed the Linnaeus’ concept of Statice echioides by the exclusion of the Magnol’s synonym (“S. [Statice] echioides…Sp. Pl. 394: excluso Magnoli syn.”) and proposed the new species S. aristata. As a consequence, the Magnol’s illustration is also original material for the name Statice aristata. Since no specimens of original material were trace on the Sibthorp herbarium at OXF, the image by Magnol (1676) is here designated as lectotype for Statice aristata. Morphologically, L. echioides is very similar to the triploid species L. avei (De Notaris 1846: 54) Brullo & Erben (1988: 17), which is not found in Greece.
Basionym:-Statice echioides Linnaeus (1753: 275). Type lectotype designated by Erben 1978: 558):-[Icon] Limonium minus annuum bullatis foliis vel echioides in Magnol (1676: t. pag.156),
= Statice aristata Sibthorp & Smith (1806 : 213). Type (lectotype, designate here):-[Icon] Limonium minus annuum bullatis foliis vel echioides (Magnol 1676: t. pg. 156).
Description:-Plant annual, glabrous, forming a sub-shrub 5-45 cm tall, with few erect to ascending stems and a thin tap-root. Caudices very short, 5-10 mm long. Leaves in a basal rosette, withered at anthesis, 7-55 mm long and 3-16 mm broad, cuneate to spathulate, apex obtuse to round, dark green or purple when semi-dry, normally flat, surface with tuberculate glands, with one central nerve and pinnately branching lateral nerves, gradually
tapering into the very short petiole. Stems 3-40 cm long, straight to slightly flexuous, rugose, branching begins normally above the lower third. Inflorescence trullate or obovate in outline. Sterile branches absent. Fertile branches 4-50 mm long, straight to slightly flexuous, directed obliquely upwards, forming branching angles of 40°- 60°, sometimes branched in the upper half. Spikes very long, 2-18 cm, arched, directed obliquely upwards to spreading. Spikelets 6.5-8.5 mm long, composed of 1-4 flowers, very remotely arranged with 1-2 per cm, laterally slightly curved near the base, sometimes nearly clustered. Outer bract 1.8-2.3 mm long and 1.4-1.8 mm broad, triangular-ovate, acute to obtuse; bract margin narrowly membranous; central part fleshy, tuberculate, acuminate. Middle bract membranous, 1.9-2.3 mm long and 1.1-1.8 mm broad, oblong-obovate to oblong-elliptic, rounded. Inner bract 4.8-6.4 mm long and 2.4-3.5 mm broad, oblong to narrowly obovate, rounded to obtuse; bract margin very narrowly membranous; central part thick-fleshy, tuberculate with glands, 4.2-5.5 mm long and 1.8-3.2 mm broad, oblong-obovate, acuminate, forming a triangular tip, 0.5-1.0 mm long, reaching the upper margin. Calyx narrow, 5.3-6.1 mm long, exceeding the inner bract by 1.5-2.0 mm; calyx tube glabrous or with some short hairs in the middle part, with 5 ribs ending near the upper margin; calyx lobes ca. 1.0 × 0.3 mm, narrowly triangular, shortly dentate between the lobes; margin of calyx lacerate after anthesis. Corolla pale lilac.
Chromosome number:-2n = 18 (Erben 1978, R. Artelari & Georgiou 2003; Erben Li-537, Li-538, unpubl.).
Distribution:-Widespread throughout the Mediterranean. In Greece, it occurs in Sterea Ellas, Attika, Crete, Euboea, Karpathos, Kythira, Kythnos, Naxos, and probably on other islands too (Fig. 93A).
Habitat:-Limestone rocky coasts, sandy places near the seashore.
Typification:-
Taxonomic remarks:-This species was described by Linnaeus (1753: 275) from Montpellier (”Habitat in Monspelii”). The protolgoue consists of a short diangosis (“STATICE caule nudo paniculato tereti, foliis tuberculatis”), plus two synonyms cited, as Sauvage (1751: 15) and Magnol (1676: 157); the latter author provides an illustration (at pag. 156) that is part of the original material and was chosen by Erben (1978) as lectotype. Statice aristata Sibthorp & Smith (1806: 213) was described from Cyprus, by a short diagnosis and the same Magnol’s synonym cited by Linnaeus (1753: 275); an illustration referring to the later Flora Graeca (Sibthorp & Smith 1821:
t. 299) was also cited. It is interesting to note that Sibthorp & Smith (1806) changed the Linnaeus’ concept of Statice echioides by the exclusion of the Magnol’s synonym (“S. [Statice] echioides…Sp. Pl. 394: excluso Magnoli syn.”) and proposed the new species S. aristata. As a consequence, the Magnol’s illustration is also original material for the name Statice aristata. Since no specimens of original material were trace on the Sibthorp herbarium at OXF, the image by Magnol (1676) is here designated as lectotype for Statice aristata. Morphologically, L. echioides is very similar to the triploid species L. avei (De Notaris 1846: 54) Brullo & Erben (1988: 17), which is not found in Greece.
