LITHODORA HISPIDULA subsp. HISPIDULA

Family and Genus:- See- BORAGINACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Lithospermum hispidulum

Meaning:- Lithodora (Gr) Stone-skinned.

Hispidula (L) Slightly bristly.

General description:- Dense, rigid, somewhat scruffy and shy-flowering shrublet

Stems:-

1) Up to 1 m tall, branches, short, stiff, whitish appressed-setulose.

Leaves:-

1) Up to 15(-20) x 4·5 mm (usually smaller), oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, obtuse

or acute. coriaceous, dark green, appressed-setulose or rough with tubercles,

above, strongly whitish-appressed-setulose beneath, margin, flat or more or less

inflexed.

Flower:-

1) Cymes, 1- to 4-flowered.

2) Calyx, c. 7 mm.

a) lobes, appressed-setose.

3) Corolla, bluish-violet.glabrous outside.

a) tube, c.12 mm.

b) limb, c.10 mm diam, with short, rounded lobes.

c) anthers, 2 mm.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets, ovoid-obtusely trigonous, white, minutely tuberculate.

Key features:-

1) Corolla, glabrous outside.

2) Leaves, up to 15(-20) x 4·5 mm, oblong-ovate to oblanceolate with a flat or

slightly inflexed. margin;

3) Calyx, setose, c. ½ as long as corolla-tube.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Rock crevices and rocky banks, generally in garrigue, pine woodland.

0-1200 m.

Distribution:- Endemic W. Crete, E.Aegean Islands& W. Turkey. Limited

distribution on Crete mainly in the south west.

Flowering time:- Feb-June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis