BUFONIA STRICTA subsp. STRICTA

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE

Common Name:- None

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Bufonia (L) Of the toad (favouring damp places).

Stricta (L) Straight.

General description:- Perennial. With stems erect-arc-shaped, slender and

usually non-branching.

Stems:-

a) flowering, up to 20 cm, woody below.

b) erect, curved like a bow (arcuate).

c) slender, usually unbranched.

Leaves:-

a) linear.

b) bristly-hairy (setaceous), the hairs lying close to the surface (appressed),

c) those of the flowering stems shorter than internodes. awl-shaped often closely

appressed.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence:

a) a cymose panicle.

b) pedicels, short.

a) few, usually 1 on each stem.

2) Sepals:

a) x 4.

b) outer 2, shorter, with 3-5 veins, lanceolate, with a hyaline margin.

3) Petals:

a) 3-4 mm.

b) equalling the outer sepals.

c) white.

4) Stamens 2-8; Styles 2.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule:

a) included, dehiscing.

b) with 2 teeth.

2) Seeds:

a) 1 or 2.

b) oblong, compressed, tuberculate.small.

c) margins tuberculate.; faces smooth.

Key features:-

1) Perennial, with vegetative stems at time of flowering.

2) Flowering stems usually unbranched, arcuate.

Habitat:- limestone slopes and screes, among scrub and thorncushion vegetation.

800-2300 m.

Distribution:- Endemic to Crete and Attica. On Crete grows on the four massifs.

Rare.

Flowering time:- End May to early Aug

Photos by:- Steve Lenton