CORRIGIOLA LITORALIS subsp. LITORALIS

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE

Common Name:- Strapwort

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Corrigiola (L) Shoe-thong, (reference to the slender stems).

Litoralis (L) Growing by the sea-shore.

General description:- Annual, covered with a waxy bloom, with a slender taproot.

Stems:-

1) Decumbent or ascending up to 25 cm.

Leaves:-

1) Cauline leaves linear-oblanceolate obtuse, entire.

2) Stipules small, scarious.

3) Basal leaves similar to the cauline, not fleshy.

Flowers:-

1) In dense, terminal and axillary cymose clusters.

2) Sepals c. 1 mm, slightly longer than the whitish petals.

3) Inflorescence-branches with leafy bracts at the base.

Fruit:- 1-1.5 mm. A trigonous achene enclosed in the persistent calyx.

Habitat:- Flat clayey areas in dolines, sandy ground, periodically water-logged.

0-800(-1300 m.

Distribution:- W., C. & S. Europe; occasional as a casual elsewhere. On Crete in

the west. on Omalos and Askifos plains in the Lefka Ori and west of the Dikti

mountains in the east.

Flowering time:- Apr-Aug and sporadically at other times.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis