TOPLIS VIRGATA subsp. VIRGATA

Family:- COMPOSITAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Toplis. Meaning not known.

Virgata (L) twiggy, with straight slender twigs.

General description:- Somewhat pubescent perennial or biennial.

Stem:-

1) 30-100 cm. branched, the branches making a narrow angle with the main stem

and overtopping it.

Leaves:-

1) Lower, 5-20 cm, oblong-lanceolate to elliptical, entire to serrate or deeply

dentate, acute or subobtuse.

2) Upper cauline, similar but smaller.

Flowers:-

1) Capitula usually several; 17-30 mm diam.

a) outer florets pale yellow.

b) inner purplish-brown.

2) Peduncles, slightly thickened below the capitula.

3) Supplementary bracts, absent, or few, small and usually appressed.

4) Involucre, 6-8 mm.

a) outer bracts, shorter than the inner.

b) all bracts. linear-lanceolate, straight, appressed.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes, all with pappus of 4-12 long hairs mixed with short hairs.

Key features:-

1) Stems with branches overtopping the main stem.

2) Pappus of 4-12 long hairs mixed with short hairs.

3) Mature leaves pubescent.

4) Branches making a narrow angle with the main stem.

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Habitat:- Seasonally damp meadows, scrub and dolines. 0-800 m. occasionally to

1600 m.

Distribution:- Widespread in the Mediterranean region eastwards to S Anatolia,

Cyprus and W Syria. Widespread across Crete.

Flowering time:- May-July..

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis