ASPERULA TOURNEFORTII

Family:- RUBIACEAE/Sect. THLIPHTHISA

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Asperula majorii

Meaning:- Asperula (L) Little-rough-one.

Tournefortii (L) For Joseph Pitton de Toumefort (1656-1708),

renaissance plant systematist.

General description:- Covered with a "bloom" - with a waxy powdery secretion on

the surface (glaucous-pruinose).

Stems:- (10-)14-30(-35) cm, rigid, stout, more or less woody.

Leaves:- 12-15 x 6-10 mm, in whorls of 6(-7), broadly obovate, obtuse, thick,

leathery (coriaceous); vein scarcely prominent; margin weakly rolled toward lower

side.

Flowers:- Inflorescence pyramidal, rather dense, many-flowered, the flowers almost

stalkless; bracts about as long as the fruits, lance-shaped, hairy, not united at the

base. Corolla 3-5 mm, funnel-shaped, pale yellow, mostly long-hairy; tube c. 3·5

mm; lobes c. 0·7-1·5 mm, triangular. Style about as long as the ovary; stigma

shortly club-shaped.

Fruit:- 1·5-2 mm, Somewhat or minutely hairy.

Key features:-

1) Shrub or dwarf shrub, with persistent, linear-lanceolate or wider leaves.

2) Internodes as long as or shorter than leaves.

3) Leaves glaucous, obovate.

Habitat:- Crevices of limestone cliffs, often in gorges, with Centaurea argentea,

Helichrysum orientale, etc. 0-800 m. Fl. Late Apr to early July.

Distribution:- Endemic Crete, Saria, Kyklades, Halki & Rhodes. Grows in central and

eastern Crete except for a single population in the Akrofaringo gorge at the northern

end of the Rodopou peninsula.

Flowering time:- Late Apr to early July.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton

FAMILY AND GENUS DESCRIPTIONS

RUBIACEAE

General description:- Predominantly woody tropical family represented in Europe,

by more or less herbaceous plants with leaf-like stipules.

Leaves:- Nearly always opposite, simple, entire; stipules separate, joined margin

to margin (connate) or divided, sometimes leaf-like and then forming whorls of 4-12

apparent leaves.

Flower:- Radially symmetrical (actinomorphic), usually hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence a compact panicle of ± cylindrical form (thyrsoid), or with the lower

branches longer than the upper so that all end up at the same level (corymbose),

sometimes condensed to a spike or head, or reduced. Sepals usually free,

sometimes reduced or absent. Petals united (sympetalous); corolla with slender

tube and abruptly widening limb (hypocrateriform), funnel-shaped (infundibuliform),

cup-shaped or rotate. Stamens united with the petals (epipetalous), alternating with

the lobes of the corolla. Ovary inferior, usually with 2 compartments (2-locular) and

with a disc; loculi with 1-numerous ovules. Style simple or divided at the tip in two

(usually equal) parts by a median cleft (2-fid).

Fruit:- Dry, splitting away at maturity as a perfect fruit (mericarp), or fleshy. Seeds,

the nutritive tissue is absorbed more slowly into the developing embryo so that part

of it remains at least until germination (endospermic).

ASPERULA

General description:- Dwarf shrubs, perennial herbs or annuals.

Stems:- More or less distinctly 4-angled and not retrorsely aculeolate.

Leaves:- In whorls of 4-8(-11) or in pairs.

Flowers:- Inflorescence of panicles or capitula; ultimate branches with bracts and

often bracteoles. Flowers hermaphrodite, (3-)4(-5)-merous. Calyx absent or

consisting of short teeth. Corolla usually hypocrateriform to infundibuliform, rarely

rotate. Stigmas capitate or clavate. Ovary and fruit oblong to globose, never with

hooked hairs;

Fruit:- Dry.

Key features:-

1) Calyx absent.

2) Flowers in cymes or panicles.

3) Leaves in whorls of more than 4.

4) Pedicels with bracteoles; ovary and fruit oblong, truncate at apex.

5) Flowers not enclosed in membranous bracts; annual or perennial.

9) Ultimate inflorescence branches with bracts and often bracteoles.

Sect. THLIPHTHISA

General description:- Dwarf shrubs or perennial herbs, with woody taproot,

without rhizomes or stolons.

Leaves:- In whorls of 6-8(-11), elliptical to linear, 1-veined, obtuse to acuminate at

apex.

Flowers:- Inflorescence pyramidal to ovoid, leafy more or less throughout; partial

inflorescences with bracts and bracteoles. Corolla 4-merous, infundibuliform to

rotate, purplish, reddish, brownish, greenish, yellowish or whitish, externally smooth

and glabrous or hairy. Ovary and fruit oblong, truncate at apex, glabrous and more

or less granulate, rarely hairy.

Status:-

Conservation status (for threatened species): Rare (R) according to IUCN 1997.

Protection status (for threatened species): Greek Presidential Decree 67/1981.