MALCOLMIA AFRICANA

Family and Genus:- See- CRUCIFERAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Crucifera africana, Fedtschenkoa africana, Hesperis

africana, Strigosella africana, Wilckia africana.

Meaning:- Malcolmia (L) For William Malcolm, eighteenth-century English

nurseryman.

Africana (L) From Africa, African.

General description:- Annual with branched or stellate hairs.

Stems:-

1) Up to 40 cm, branches usually shorter than the main stem.

Leaves:-

1) Lanceolate, entire or sinuate-dentate.

Flower:-

1) Petals, (5-)8-10(-12) mm, violet.

2) Sepals, 3-5 mm, not saccate.

3) Pedicels, 1-2 mm in fruit.

4) Stigma, 0·5-1·5 mm, acute.

Fruit:-

1) Siliqua, 25-65 x 1-1·5 mm, patent, rigid, more or less 4-angled, densely hispid.

Key features:-

1) Siliqua, densely hispid.

2) Stigma, acute.

3) Lower pedicels, usually 1-2 mm in fruit.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Sandy and rocky coastal habitats, fallow fields, roadsides, dry open

shrubby vegetation. 0-100(-800) m.

Distribution:- On Greece restricted to the Aegean region. - Scattered in Spain, N

Africa, Sicily; Through Anatolia and possibly further east. Somewhat restricted

distribution on Crete mainly in the south east with one on Gavdos island and one

near Ag Galini.in the southwest.

Flowering time:- Mar-Apr, occasionally later.

Photos by:- Courtesy of Wiki-Commons