SPECIES DESCRIPTION
LOMELOSIA MINOANA subsp. ASTERUSICA
Family and Genus:- See- DIPSACACEAE
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- Scabiosa asterusica, Scabiosa minoana subsp.
asterusica.
Meaning:- Lomelosia. Meaning unknown.
Minoana (L) For King Minos of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa.
Asterusica (L) From the Asterousia mountains where it grows.
General description:- Bushy, caespitose subshrub forming rather loose cushions
up to 60 cm tall.
Stems:-
1) Simple or sparingly branched, with a mixture of short appressed hairs forming a
dense felt, and longer erecto-patent hairs.
Leaves:-
1) Opposite, shortly petiolate 2-4 x 1-2 cm (including the petiole), broadly elliptical,
entire at the margins, with a dense sericeous-strigose indumentum on both
surfaces.
Flower:-
1) Capitula, flat or hemispherical in flower, globose and 20-35 mm wide in fruit.
2) Corolla, whitish to pale mauve.
3) Involucel tube, c. 5 mm, with short appressed and long straight hairs; pits
broadly linear, c. 2.5 mm.
4) Corona, scarious, often oblique, at least as long as the involucel tube, with c. 30
veins.
5) Calyx, setae, somewhat shorter than the corona.
Fruit:-
1) Fruiting capitulum, a globose cluster of densely packed fruits, each fruit with a
scarious, infundibuliform, apical corona.
Habitat:- Crevices of limestone cliffs, occasionally in coarse scree. 450-1200
(-1800) m.
Distribution:- Endemic to the south-facing cliff below the summit of Mount Kofinas
on the southern coast of central Crete.
Flowering time:- (May-)June-Sept.
Photos by:- Kind permission of Manolis Avramakis The Natural History Museum of
Crete, Philippa Dean and Sarah Sells
Status:-
Conservation status (for threatened species): Rare (R) according to IUCN 1997.
Protection status (for threatened species): Greek Presidential Decree 67/1981.
