SPECIES DESCRIPTION
LAVATERA BRYONIIFOLIA
Family and Genus:- See- MALVACEAE
Common Names:- Bryony-leaved tree mallow
Homotypic Synonyms:- Althaea unguiculata, Lavatera unguiculata, Malva
unguiculata.
Meaning:- Lavatera (L) For the Lavater brothers, eighteenth-century Swiss
naturalists.
Bryoniifolia (L) Having leaves resembling those of Bryonia.
General description:- A perennial plant completely woody at the base.
Stems:-
1) 60-200 cm, hispid, young parts of plant stellate-tomentose.
Leaves:-
1) Up to 15 x 13 cm, the basal lobes nearly as wide as the central. 3- to 5-lobed,
the upper oblong-ovate to lanceolate, often hastately 3-lobed.
Flower:-
1) Solitary in the leaf-axils.
2) Pedicels, 2-7 mm.
3) Epicalyx, invaginated at the insertion of the pedicel with the segments shorter
than the sepals, very abruptly acuminate.
4) Epicalyx-segments, 7-13 mm, ovate.
5) Sepals, 10-14 mm, ovate, acuminate.
6) Petals, 1·5-3 cm, purple.
Fruit:-
1) Mericarps, c. 18, glabrous, not ridged; dorsal face and angles rounded.
Key features:-
1) Pedicels, not more than 1 cm at anthesis and 1·3 cm in fruit.
2) Epicalyx, invaginated at the insertion of the pedicel, its segments shorter than
the sepals.
3) Mericarps glabrous.
Habitat:- Coastal flats,streambanks, roadsides, archaeological sites. 0-1000 m.
Distribution:- Coastal areas of west Greece, lacking in the interior. - E.
Mediterranean region from Greece over S Anatolia to Cyprus and Palestine also in
Libya a perhaps Sicily. Widespread on Crete.
Flowering time:- Late Mar to June.
Photos by:- Steve Lenton
