MATRICARIA AUREA

Family:- COMPOSITAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- For a full list of Homotypic Synonyms click here.

Meaning:- Matricaria (L) Of-the-womb, for it's former medicinal use in the

treatment of uterine infections.

Aurea (L) Golden-yellow.

General description:- Slender sligthly hairy annual.

Stems:-

1) 4-25 cm, slender, decumbent or ascending and often flexuous, branched from the

base, glabrous below, sometimes very sparsely pubescent below the capitulum.

Leaves:-

1) Basal and cauline 2- or 3-pinnatisect into linear-subulate segments.

Flowers:-

1) Peduncles 0·5-2·5 cm.

2) Capitula 1-60, 4-7 mm diam.

3) Involucre 5-7 mm, campanulate, phyllaries elliptic-oblong, obtuse, with brown

scarious margins.

4) Florets all tubular, 4-lobed, yellow.

5) Corolla 0·7-0·9 mm (slightly exceeding the auricle, if present).

Fruit:-

1) Achenes 0·6-0·9 x 0·15-0·2 mm (excluding auricle), pale to dark brown, with 3-5

ribs on the ventral face.

2) Pappus either a short membranous rim, or a conspicuous irregularly toothed,

scarious auricle 0·6-0·8 mm.

Key features:-

1) Involucre 5-7 mm.

2) All florets tubular, 4-lobed, yellow.

Habitat:- Trampled, nutrient-rich areas by small roads c. 200 m.

Distribution:- In Greece recorded only from Gavdos, Crete, first reported in 1997. -

Widespread but very scattered in the Mediterranean region from Portugal to S

Anatolia, and in SW to C Asia.

Flowering time:- Mar- Apr.

Photos by:- Courtesy of Wiki-Commons