ANCHUSELLA VARIEGATA

Family and Genus:- See- BORAGINACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Anchusa variegata. Lycopsis variegata.

Meaning:- Anchusella (Gr) Diminutive of Anchusa, strangler.

Variegata (L) irregularly coloured, blotched, variegated.

General description:- Annual, hispid with slightly tubercle based hairs

Stems:-

1)10-50 cm, procumbent.

Leaves:-

1) 30-100 x 5-20 mm, linear-lanceolate'subentire or repand-dentate, margins,

uneven or wavy, with shallow undulations.

Flowers:-

1) Cymes, solitary, rarely paired, subtended by or beset with bracts, only at base.

a) pedicels, very short, up to 7 mm in fruit.

2) Bracts, equalling or shorter than the calyx.

3) Calyx, 4-5 mm, up to 10 mm in fruit, divided almost to the base into linear-

lanceolate, acute lobes.

4) Corolla, white or pale purplish, becoming pale blue with reddish markings.

b) tube, 4-7 mm, about equalling the calyx, curved.

c) limb, 6-9 mm diam, with 5 unequal lobes.

d) stamens, inserted above the middle of the tube.

e) style, with more or less acute lobes.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets,1·5-2 x 3-4 mm, suborbicular in dorsal view, smooth between the primary

reticulations.

Key features:-

1) Nutlets, smooth between the primary reticulations.

2) Lobes, of style ± acute.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Calcareous, rocky or gravelly places and screes up to 1000 m.

Distribution:- Endemic Crete, S. Greece, Ionian & Aegean with a rather narrow

distribution in southern Greece and the southern Aegean region. In Crete confined

mainly to the west.

Flowering time:- Mar-June

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis and Steve Lenton