LITHOSPERMUM SIBTHORPIANUM

Family:- BORAGINACEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Buglossoides arvensis ssp. sibthorpiana

Meaning:- Lithospermum (Gr) Stone-seed. A name used by the Greek physician

and botanist Dioscorides.

Sibthorpianum (L) For professor Humphrey Sibthorp (1713-97, of

Oxford, and his son John (1758-97), English botanist.

Stems:-

a) 1·5-17(-45) cm.

b) usually numerous.

c) the central erect, the others procumbent or ascending.

d) densely leafy, with dense stiff bristly hairs. (hispid).

Leaves:-

1) Stem:

a)1.5-4(-6) mm wide.

b) narrow parallel-sided or oblong.

Flower:-

1) Pedicels:

a) cylindrical.

b) receptacle not or only slightly oblique in fruit.

2) Corolla:

a) 4-6·5(-8) mm;

b) tube, slender, and abruptly widening limb.

3) Calyx:

a) usually distinctly shorter than corolla-tube in flower.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets

a) 2.5-2.75 x 1.5-1.75 mm.

b) adaxial not embedded in receptacles and pedicel.

. c) drawn out and gradually narrowing.

d) tubercles, prominent.

Key features:-

1) Nutlets 2-3 x 1·5-2 mm. with prominent tubercles. Adaxial nutlet not embedded

in receptacles and pedicel.

2) Corolla 4-8 mm, usually white, with slender tube and abruptly widening limb

(hypocrateriform).

3) Calyx usually distinctly shorter than corolla-tube in flower.

4) Pedicels cylindrical in fruit.

5) Receptacle not oblique in fruit.

Habitat:- Dry grassland and other semi-natural habitats.

Distribution:- Somewhat scattered across the Aegean area, not common. C to SE

Europe and SW Asia to Iran.. Limited distribution on Crete Wmainly to the south.

Flowering time:- Mar-May.

Photo by:- Steve Lenton