CERINTHE MAJOR

Family:- BORAGINACEAE

Common Name:- Honeywort, Goldendrop

Accepted Infraspecifics:- Cerinthe major subsp. major, Cerinthe major subsp.

oranensis. Cerinthe major subsp. purpurascens.

Meaning:- Cerinthe (Gr) Wax-flower.

Major (L) Large, greater, bigger.

General description:- Rather fleshy, grey-green, almost hairless (glabrescent)

short to medium annual.

Stems:-

a) 15-60 cm.

Leaves:-

a) all leaves covered with small, white, wart-like projections (tuberculate).

1) Lower:

a) oblong, broadest above the middle.

b) stalked (petiolate).

c) fringed with hairs along the margin (ciliate).

2) Upper:

a) oval.

b) clasping the stem with a heart-shaped (cordate) base.

Flowers:-

1) Bracts:

a) ovate, almost heart-shaped (subcordate) at the base.

b) equalling or longer than calyx.

c) often covered with a waxy reddish-bloom (glaucous).

2) Calyx-lobes:

a) acute.

b) ciliate.

3) Corolla:

a)15-30 x 5-8 mm.

b) slightly pouch-shaped (saccate), straight.

c) yellow, with a reddish-brown ring in the throat, sometimes cream distally, or

dark red throughout.

d) more than twice as long as calyx.

e) lobes, ovate, sharply recurved at the apex.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets:

a) blackish.

Key features:-

1) Corolla 5-8 mm wide, more than twice as long as the calyx. straight, yellow or

dark red, usually with red spots or ring at the throat.

Habitat:- Cultivated, fallow and waste places, roadsides, stony slopes, field

margins, seasonally damp roadsides. 0-400(-800) m.

Distribution:- Widespread around the Mediterranean region eastwards to SW

Anatolia. but not the Balearic Is. or Cyprus. Somewhat limited distribution on Crete

mainly C and W.

Flowering time:- Mar-June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton