ONOPORDUM BRACTEATUM subsp. CRETICUM

Family:- COMPOSITAE/Sect. RECURVATA

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Onopordum (Gr) Ass-fart (its reputed flatulent effect on donkeys).

Bracteatum (L) With bracts.

Creticum (L) From Crete, Cretan.

General description:-

Stem:-

1) Up to 180 cm. with sparse multicellular hairs.

2) Wings up to 12 mm wide, with a spine up to 13 mm.

Leaves:-

1) Up to 30 x 8 cm, oblong-lanceolate, sessile, pinnatisect or almost pinnate,

greyish-green above, densely whitish-tomentose beneath, with 10-12 pairs of

lobes; lobes palmate to dentate. with an apical spine up to 12 mm.

Flowers:-

1) Capitula 50-70 mm in diam, ovoid-globose, glabrous.

2) Involucral bracts broadly lanceolate, long-acuminate, with a stout pungent apex.

3) Corolla 30-40 mm, purple.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes 5-6 mm, brown.

2) Pappus 8-10 mm.

Key features:-

1) Stem densely spiny.

2) Leaves with at least 8 pairs of lobes.

3) Capitula 50-70 mm diam.

4) Plant white at first, lanate.

5) Capitula surrounded by upper leaves.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Waste and fallow ground, calcareous rubble. 0-1200(-1800) m.

Distribution:- Endemic Crete, Limited distribution mainly in the east and west.

Flowering time:- May-July.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton