BUNIAS ERUCAGO
Common Name:- Southern warty cabbage
Homotypic Synonyms:- Erucago erucago, Myagrum clavatum.
Meaning:- Bunias (L) Linnaean generic name from Greek, for a kind of turnip.
Erucago (L) Eruca-like.
General description:- Hispid, glandular annual.
Stems:-
1) 15-60 cm tall, sparingly branched, white-hispid at the base, glabrous above.
Leaves:-
1) Lower, entire to sinuate-pinnatifid or pinnatisect.
2) Upper, entire or dentate.
Flowers:-
1) Raceme, long, lax, ebracteate.
2) Petals, 10-13 mm, lemon yellow, obcordate.
3) Fruiting pedicels, erecto-patent, at least twice as long as the fruit.
4) Style 3-5 mm.
Fruit:-
1) Silicula 10-12 mm, quadrangular, with irregularly dentate or lobed wings on the
angles; loculi 4.
Key features:-
1) Petals yellow; usually 10-13 mm.
2) Silicula 10-12 mm, with 4 irregularly dentate or lobed longitudinal wings.
Habitat:- Stony open dry shrubby vegetation, sandy flats, olive groves, field
margins. 0-800 m.
Distribution:- Widespread in the Mediterranean region. Mainly around the coastal
regions of W. Crete. Rare
.
Flowering time:- Mar-May.
Photos by:- Dr. Armin Jagel