SPECIES DESCRIPTION
CARTHAMUS LANATUS subsp. CRETICUS
Family:- COMPOSITAE
Common Name:- None
Synonyms:- Carthamus lanatus var. creticus.
Meaning:- Carthamus. From Hebrew for painted one.
Lanatus (L) Woolly.
Creticus (L) From Crete, Cretan.
General description:- A medium to tall glandular annual.
Stems:-
1) Whitish-coloured, branched above, slightly covered with white woolly hairs.
Leaves:-
1) Lanceolate-oval.
2) Lobes pinnate, but not separated into distinct leaflets, with a spiny margin.
3) Basal, withered at anthesis, the upper half amplexicaul.
Flowers:-
1) Capitula, 20-30 mm, pale-yellow.
2) Bracts, with a spine-toothed appendage.
3) Inner, much shorter and rather inconspicuous.
4) Anthers white with violet lines.
Fruit:-
1) Achenes oblong to obpyramidal, 4-angled, glabrous.
2) Outer usually coarsely rugose, without pappus.
3) Inner more or less smooth, usually with a persistent pappus of many rows of
linear scales.
Habitat:- Stony coastal habitats, roadsides, olive groves, open woodland,
wasteland. 0-1200 m.
Distribution:- Mediterranean area and SW Asia. Fairly widespread across Crete.
Flowering time:- May-July(-Aug).
Photos by:- Steve Lenton
