IBERIS SEMPERVIRENS

Family and Genus:- See- CRUCIFERAE

Common Name:- Evergreen candytuft

Homotypic Synonym:- Biauricula sempervirens, Iberis sempervirens var.

macropetala.

Meaning:- Iberis (L) Spanish. A name used by the Greek physician and botanist

Dioscorides for an Iberian cress-like plant.

Sempervirens (L) Always green.

General description:- Small, evergreen, spreading hairless shrub.

Stems:-

1) Generally 15-30 cm.

Leaves:-

1) Crowded towards tip of non-flowering shoots and scattered on flowering stems,

somewhat coriaceous, oblanceolate, obtuse.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, subumbellate.

2) Pedicels, densely scabrid-papillose on the inner surface.

3) Petals, white or sometimes tinged pink or lilac, the outer 7-10 mm.

4) Infructescence, racemose, 15-40 mm.

Fruit:-

1) Siliculae, 6-8 x 4.5-7 mm, compressed, angustiseptate, broadly ovate to

suborbicular, glabrous, broadly winged towards apex; notch broad, exceeded

by the style.

Key features:-

1) Silicula, in racemes. longer than wide or suborbicular.

2) Perennial with woody or herbaceous stems, usually with non-flowering rosettes.

3) Leaves, 2·5-5 mm wide, oblong-spathulate, flat, obtuse; flowering stems lateral.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Rocky slopes, ridges, screes, open woodland, mainly on limestone. 700-

2000 m.

Distribution:- Throughout mainland Greece and Peloponnisos. Widespresd in

Europe and the Mediterranean region. Rare on Crete known only from the Lefka Ori

and Dikti massifs.

Flowering time:- April-mid-Aug.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis