PETRORHAGIA DUBIA

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE/Sect. KOHLRAUSCHIA

Common Names:- Hairy pink

Synonyms:- Petrorhagia velutina, Dianthus dubius, Kohlrauschia dubia.

Meaning:- Petrorhagia (Gr) Rock-bursting.
                  Dubia (L) Uncertain, doubtful.
                
General description:- Herbaceous erect annual.

Stems:-
1) Generally 10-40 cm tall. Simple or sparingly branched, glandular-tomentose at 
    the middle internodes, glabrous below and above.

Leaves:-
1) Opposite, simple, oblong to linear.
2) Cauline, leaves, linear, connate at the base into a sheath at least twice as long 
    as broad.

Flowers:-
1) In terminal, usually 3-10-flowered heads subtended by 4(-6) coriaceous bracts.
2) Largest bracts 6-12 x 3-7(-8) mm, usually obtuse, mucronate. All outer bracts
   acute or mucronate.
3) Petals,10-16 mm.
4) Petal-limb,1·2-2·5 mm wide; pink with darker veins, obcordate to shallowly bifid. 
5) Corolla with 5 free, indented petals.

Fruit:-
1) Capsules with 4 teeth.
2) Seeds, 1-1.3 mm,with thick curved margins, covered by conical papillae.

Key features:-
1) Largest bracts at least 4 mm wide.
2) Petals with a long claw and distinct limb, pink or purplish, sometimes with darker
veins.
3) Leaf-sheaths at least twice as long as wide.
4) Seeds 1-1·3 mm, covered with cylindrical papillae.

Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetaion, olive groves, grassy pastures, open
coniferous woodland, fallow fields, coastal habitats. 0-1200(-1700) m.

Distribution:- Widespread  throughout the Mediterranean region and SW Asia.
Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to June(July).

Photos by:- Steve Lenton
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
 
GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED

Acute:- Sharp, sharply pointed, the margins near the tip being almost straight.

Bifid:- Divided at the tip in two (usually equal) parts by a median cleft
Bract:-  An organ, often small and scale-like, but sometimes leaf-­like, located
where the flower-stalk joins the stem.

Capsule:- Dry fruit that opens when ripe. splittin from apex to base into separate
segments known as valves.
Capsule-teeth:- The one or two circles of small, pointed, toothlike appendages
around the opening of a capsule.
Cauline:- Borne on the stem, of the stem.
Connate:-1) united, used when structures or organs of the same kind are joined
margin to margin (e.g. connate petals); 2. (of leaves) where a pair are united at the
base.
Conical papillae:- With cone-shaped, small nipple-like projections.
Coriaceous:- Leathery, tough.
Corolla:- A collective name for the petals.

Glabrous:- Without hairs, hairless.
Glandular-Tomentose:- Densely covered in short soft, matted glanular hairs.

Herbaceous:- Refers to plant organs that are green and with a leaf-­like texture.

Internode:- The portion of a stem between two nodes.

Linear:- Narrow and parallel-sided. Narrow and much longer than wide, with parallel
margins.

Mucro:- A sharp terminal point.
Mucronate:- Of or having a mucro; ending abruptly in a sharp point.

Node:- Points on the stem where the leaves arise; often regularly spaced.

Obcordate:- Heart-shaped, with the point of attachment at the narrow end.
Oblong:- Rectangular with rounded ends - used to describe a leaf or petal shape.
.
Petal:- The inner perianth segments when they clearly differ from the outer - often
brightly coloured.
Petal-limb:- An enlarged upper part of the petals

Subacute:- Having a tapered but not sharply pointed form.
Subtended:- (of a bract, stem, etc), to have (a bud or similar part) growing in the
axil.
Subtending:-  Immediately adjacent to; to have another organ in its axil.
 
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