PARONYCHIA ECHINULATA

Family and Genus:- See- CARYOPHYLLACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Paronychia (Gr) Beside-nail, a name used by the Greek physician and

botanist Dioscorides, for its former use to treat whitlows.

Echinulata (Gr) Prickly.

General description:- Annual.

Stems:-

1) 2-20 cm, spreading or erect, usually much-branched.

Leaves:-

1) Ovate to oblong-lanceolate, reddish, with a pale, membranous margin, axis

aristate.

Flowers:-

1) Clusters, 3-8 mm diam.

2) Bracts, inconspicuous, shorter than the flowers.

3) Calyx, with hooked hairs at the base, and with an awn c. 1 mm or more, on the

calyx-lobes, usually straight.

Fruit:-

1) Achene, with a membranous pericarp.

Key features:-

1) Calyx, with hooked hairs at the base, and with an awn c. 1 mm or more.

2) Awn, on the calyx-lobes usually straight.

3) Leaves, ovate to oblong-ovate, reddish.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Sandy and rocky places by the sea, hillslopes and ridges with dry open

shrubby vegetation. 0-300(-600) m.

Distribution:- Widespread, but scattered in the Mediterranean region from Portugal

and S Spain to SW Anatolia and Lebanon. Limited distribution across Crete around

coastal areas mainly in the far west and east and central areas.

Flowering time:- Apr to early June.

Photos by:- Dr. Armin Jagel