CAMPANULA SAXATALIS

Family:- CAMPANULACEAE/Sect. CAMPANULA

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Lacara saxatilis, Pentropis saxatilis.

Meaning:- Campanula (L) Bell-like.

Saxatalis (L) Living in rocky places, of rock.

General description:- A long-lived perennial with a thick rhizome.The sinuous

flowering stems hug the rock surface and bear pale to mid-blue flowers.

Stems:-

a) 20 cm.

b) erect or ascending.

c) fragile and brittle, often glossy.

d) very wavy (flexuous), simple or branched.

Leaves:-

1) Basal:

a) spathulate to broadly oblanceolate.

b) leathery (coriaceous).

c) hairless (glabrous) or sparsely covered in soft hairs (pubescent).

d) margins, rounded to saw-toothed,(crenate-serrate) or entire.

e) stalked (petiolate).

2) Cauline:

a) similar but the uppermost stalkless (sessile).

Flowers:-

a) few.

1) Inflorescence:

a) short.

2) Calyx-teeth:

a) triangular-lance-staped; appendages very short.

3) Corolla:

a) (10-)14-19(-23) mm.

b) narrowly tubular, velvety, (velutinous).

c) lobes between spreading and erect (erecto-patent).

4) Stigmas, 5.

5) Ovary, with 5 compartments (5-locular).

Fruit:-

1) Capsule:

a) splitting open to release the seeds (dehiscing) by basal pores or valves.

Key features:-

1) Leaves coriaceous, sparsely pubescent to glabrous.

2) Stems c. 20 cm.

3) Stigmas 5. Ovary 5-locular.

Habitat:- An obligate chasmophyte, always growing in rock crevices, either on

cliffs, rock faces, or old stonewalls, up to 300 m.

Distribution:- A very rare Cretan endemic found only in the west, usually near the

coast.

Flowering time:- Apr-June

Photo by:- Fotis Samaritakis

Status:-

Conservation status (for threatened species): Rare (R) according to the Red Data

Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece (1995)

Rare (R) according to IUCN 1997:

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