HYOSERIS SCABRA

Family:- COMPOSITAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Hedypnois scabra

Meaning:- Hyoseris (Gr) Pig-salad.

Scabra (L) Having a rough surface.

General description:- Annual.

Stem:-

1) Scapes 0·5-7 cm, ascending or procumbent, often swollen at the middle or near

the apex, glabrous or farinose.

Leaves:-

1) 15-80 x 3-14 mm, patent, narrowly oblanceolate, obtuse to subacute, narrowed

at the base to a winged petiole, glabrous or farinose, lobes ovate, obtuse or

acute, more or less dentate.

Flowers:-

1) Yellow, dandelion-like, 25-35 mm, solitary on scapes.

2) Involucre 7-10 x 3-5 mm.

3) Bracts usually pale, linear, oblong or lanceolate, more or less obtuse, glabrous

or slightly farinose.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes 7-8 mm, brown, sometimes minutely puberulent, the

a) outer, compressed. with a pappus of short hairs.

b) median, compressed and winged, with a pappus of pale, narrowly linear-

lanceolate scales.

c) inner, terete. with a pappus of pale, narrowly linear-lanceolate scales.

Key features:-

1) Scapes 0·5-7 cm, often swollen.

2) Involucre 7-10 x 3-5 mm.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Sandy, loamy or rocky coastal habitats, ascending some distance inland

along roads and tracks, in fallow fields and soil pockets in open dry shrubby

vegetation. 0-1100 m.

Distribution:- Widespread and common throughout the Mediterranean but rarer in

the N Med than elsewhere. Fairly evenly scattered across Crete, but not densely

so.

Flowering time:- Mar-May, occasionally later.

Photos by:- Zacharias Angourakis