ONOPORDUM ILLYRICUM subsp. CARDUNCULUS

Family:- COMPOSITAE/Sect. RECURVATA

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Onopordum illyricum var. cardunculus

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

Illyricum (L) From western former Yugoslavia (Illyria).

Cardunculus (L) Thistle-like.

General description:- Erect robust biennial.

Stem:-

1) 60-150 cm. white- or grey-tomentose; wings up to 10 mm wide, with a spine up

to 5 mm.

Leaves:-

1) Up to 55 x 15 cm, white- or greyish-tomentose, with indistinct veins beneath.

oblong-lanceolate, sessile, pinnatifid or pinnatisect with 8-10 pairs of remote

lobes, lobes triangular-cuneate, entire or lobulate.

Flowers:-

1) Capitula 30-50 x 40 60 mm, globose-ovoid, arachnoid-hairy below.

2) Involucral bracts, contracted into a spine up to 2 mm, appressed and erect or

sometimes the outermost with an erecto-patent apex.

3) Corolla 25-35 mm, purplish.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes 4-5 mm.

2) Pappus at least twice as long 10-12 mm, the hairs whitish shortly plumose.

Key features:-

1) Inner phyllaries shorter than the florets.

2) Involucre usually 4-5 cm diam

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry grassland, gravelly road verges, ruderal habitats. 0-800 m.

Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece, Mediterranean region and eastwards to

W Anatolia. Fairly rare on Crete, mainly to the east and centre.

Flowering time:- May-July.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton