CAMPANULA SAXATALIS

Family and Genus:- See- CAMPANULACEAE/Sect. CAMPANULA

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Lacara saxatilis, Pentropis saxatilis.

Meaning:- Campanula (L) Bell-like.

Saxatalis (L) Living in rocky places, of rock.

General description:- A long-lived perennial with a thick rhizome.The sinuous

flowering stems hug the rock surface and bear pale to mid-blue flowers.

Stems:-

1) 20 cm, erect or ascending, fragile and brittle, often glossy, very flexuous, simple

or branched.

Leaves:-

a) basal, spathulate to broadly oblanceolate, coriaceous, glabrous or pubescent.

margins, crenate-serrate, or entire, petiolate.

b) cauline, similar but the uppermost sessile.

Flowers:-

1) Few.

2) Inflorescence, short.

3) Calyx-teeth, triangular-lanceolate; appendages very short.

4) Corolla, (10-)14-19(-23) mm, narrowly tubular, velutinous.

a) lobes, erecto-patent.

5) Stigmas, 5.

6) Ovary, 5-locular.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, dehiscing, by basal pores or valves.

Key features:-

1) Leaves, coriaceous, sparsely pubescent to glabrous.

2) Stems, c. 20 cm.

3) Stigmas, 5.

4) Ovary, 5-locular.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- An obligate chasmophyte, always growing in rock crevices, either on

cliffs, rock faces, or old stonewalls, up to 300 m.

Distribution:- A very rare Cretan endemic found only in the west, usually near the

coast.

Flowering time:- Apr-June

Photo by:- Fotis Samaritakis

Status:-

Conservation status (for threatened species): Rare (R) according to the Red Data

Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece (1995)

Rare (R) according to IUCN 1997:

Protection status (for threatened species): Greek Presidential Decree 67/1981.