LEGOUSIA PENTAGONIA

Family:- CAMPANULACEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Click Here for a full list

Meaning:- Legousia. Meaning uncertain.

Pentagonia (Gr) Five-angled, (reference to the corolla).

General description:- Herbaceous plant, often hairy.

Stem:-

a) 10-30 cm tall.

b) simple or branched from base, suberect.

Leaves:-

a) alternate.

1) Blade:

a) simple, oblong.

b) margins, slightly wavy.

c) stalkless (sessile), the basal ones sometimes stalked (petiolate).

Flower:-

a) radially symmetrical, (actinomorphic).

b) from 20-30 mm.

c) joined together in racemes or in loose panicles.

d) violet with whitish base.

1) Corolla:

a) 15-18 mm.

b) petals fused in tube.

c) with 5 spread out, star-shaped lobes.

2) calyx-lobes:

a) ¼-½ as long as the ovary when in full flower (anthesis).

3) Filaments of the stamens hairy at the base.

Fruit:-

1) Capsules:

a) from 20-30 mm long.

b) not narrowed at the top.

Key features:-

1) Calyx-lobes 1/3-1/2 as long as the ovary at anthesis.

2) Capsule 20-30 mm, not narrowed at apex.

Habitat:- Cultivated, fallow and waste land, roadsides, occasionally on open stony

hillsides or in open shrubby vegetation.usually 0-1600 m.

Distribution:- Scattered in Peloponnisos. - E Balkan Peninsula, Anatolia and

elsewhere in SW Asia. Widespread but not common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Apr-June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton