MINUARTIA MESOGITANA

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE

Common Names:- Fine-leaved sandwort

Synonyms:- Minuartia tenuifolia ssp. mesogitana, Sabulina mesogitana,

Alsine mesogitana, Alsine orphanidis

Meaning:- Minuartia (L) For Jaun Minuart (1693-1768), botanical writer of

Barcelona.

Mesogitana Meaning unknown.

As for Minuaria hybrida below

General description:- Slender annual.

Stems:- Erect 3-12(-20) cm, branched at the base and from above the middle; plant

usually glandular-pubescent, at least above, or sometimes glabrous.

Leaves:- Up to 12 mm. linear-lanceolate, 3-veined.

Flower:- Cymes lax, many-flowered; pedicels 5-12 mm. Sepals (2·5-)3-5 mm,

linear to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate; with narrow, dry, paper-like (scarious)

margins; petals slightly shorter than the sepals.

Fruit:- Capsule 1-1½ times as long as the sepals. Seeds (0·3-)0·4-0·6 mm,

minutely tuberculate, reddish-brown.

But differing in the following charcters:-

1) Upper part of the stem an inflorescence patently glandular-pubescent.

2) Most pedicels more than twice as long as the calyx.

3) Sepals broadly lanceolate.

4) Petals 0.8-1.2 times as long as the sepals.

5) Capsule narrowly ovoid.

6) Seeds somewhat larger (0.45-0.6 mm).

Habitat:- Rocky slopes with dry open shrubby vegetation, scrubland vegetation or

open woodland, screes, road verges. 0-1300 m. (occasionally to 1800 m.),

generally on limestone

Distribution:- Mainland Greece and Peloponnisos but rare in the west. - Balkan

Peninsula, widespread in SW Asia. Rare on Crete known from only a few locations

in the C & E.

Flowering time:- Mid-Apr to June.

Photos by:- Currently not available