SPECIES DESCRIPTION
PICRIS PAUCIFLORA
Family:- COMPOSITAE/Sect. PICRIS
Common Names:- None
Synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Picris (Gr) Bitter. A name used by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus
for a bitter
Pauciflora (L) With few flowers.
General description:- Annual.
Stems:-
1) 10-50 cm, with numerous unequal, rigid hairs.
Leaves:-
1) With few to numerous.more or less rigid hairs.
2) Basal 30-120 X 5-15 mm. narrowly elliptical, oblong-elliptical or oblanceolate,
entire to sinuate-dentate, narrowed into a petiole.
3) Lower cauline similar to the basal.
4) Upper smaller, narrower, sessile, sometimes semi-amplexicaul.
Flowers:-
1) Capitula few.
2) Peduncles long, slightly thickened after anthesis.
3) Involucre 10-12 X 7-10 mm.
4) Bracts linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, mostly acute, with short stellate and
longer rigid hairs mainly on the median line.
5) Outer bracts patent, up to half as long as the inner.
Fruit:-
1) Achenes 4·5-5 mm. dark brown. more or less curved. strongly transversely
muricate. shortly beaked.
2) Pappus of 2 rows of deciduous hairs.
Key features:-
1) Achenes narrowed at the apex or shortly beaked: more or less curved, strongly
transversely muricate.
2) Peduncles often thickened after anthesis.
Habitat:- Fallow fields, olive groves, vineyards, dry grassland, coastal habitats.
0-600 (-1000) m.
Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. - Mediterranean region, mostly in the
east, extending to S Anatolia, Cyprus and Egypt. Common and widespread across
Crete.
Flowering time:- May-July, occasionally later in wet places.
Photos by:- Christopher Cheiladakis
