EUCRIUM CAPITATUM

Family and Genus:- See- LABIATAE/Sect. POLIUM

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Chamaedrys capitata, Polium capitatum,

Teucrium commune subsp. capitatum, Teucrium polium subsp. capitatum.

Meaning:- Teucrium (Gr) A name used by the Greek physician and botanist

Dioscorides, perhaps for the hero and first King of Troy, Teucer.

Capitatum (L) Growing in a head, head-like.

General description:- Rhizomatous, bushy, sub-shrub.

Stems:-

1) 6-45 cm, covered with white, greenish or golden branched hairs, often densely

so.

Leaves:-

1) 7-27 mm, narrowly oblong to narrowly obovate, flat or with revolute margins, with

2-5(-9) crenations, often in fascicles.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, lax and slender, in a simple or compound head.

2) Bracts, leaf-like to entire.

3) Calyx, (2·5-)3-5 mm, 2-lipped, broadly campanulate, gibbous at the base,

densely and evenly hairy.

4) Corolla, 5-8 mm. white or red; proximal lobes rounded or triangular.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets, smooth or reticulate.

Key features:-

1) Lateral lobes, of the lower lip rounded or triangular.

2) Flowers, in a simple or compound head, at least as wide as long.

3) Corolla, 5-8 mm.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Rocky slopes with open shrubby vegetation, open woodland, roadsides,

etc., 0-800 m.

Distribution:- Widespread and common in the Mediterranean region. On Crete

mainly central north and a few scattered locations to the east.

Flowering time:- Apr-Aug.

Photos by:- Marinos Gogolos