ANCHUSA AEGYPTIACA

Family:- BORAGINACEAE

Common Name:- Eastern anchusa.

Synomyns:- Asperugo aegyptiaca, Lycopsis aegyptiaca.

Meaning:- Anchusa (Gr) Strangler or close. A name given by the Greek playwright

Aristophanes to an alkanet yielding red dye.

Aegyptiaca (Gr) From Egypt, Egyptian.

General description:- Annual, hispid with stout, tubercle-based hairs.

Stems:-

a) 5-30 cm.

b) procumbent or ascending.

Leaves:-

1) Lamina:

a) 25-40 x 10-15 mm.

b) oblong-oval to lance-shaped.

c) margin toothed to somewhat undulate.

d) lower leaves with a grooved stalk.

e) upper, unstalked, half-clasping the stem, surface covered in pale wart-like

projections.

Flowers:-

1) Cymes:

a) very lax, leafy.

b) stalks (pedicels) 2-3 mm, elongating and recurved in fruit.

2) Bracts:

a) leaf-like.

b) exceeding the calyx.

3) Calyx:

a) c. 5 mm.

b) divided almost to the base into linear-lance-shaped, obtuse lobes.

4) Corolla:

a) tube c. 4 mm, straight, slightly shorter than the calyx.

b) pale yellow.

c) limb 3-5 mm diam., with 5 slightly unequal lobes.

d) stamens inserted at about the middle of the tube, 2 higher than the other 3.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets:

a) 4-5 x 2-3 mm.

b) erect.

Key features:-

1) Corolla yellow.

2) Bracts exceeding flowers.

3) Nutlets 4-5 x 2-3 mm, erect.

Habitat:- Cultivated, fallow and waste ground, dry hillslopes in open shrubby areas,

sandy coastal habitats. 0-400 m.

Distribution:- S. Aegean Is. eastwards, including Cyprus. On Crete mainly

scattered around coastal regions.

Flowering time:- Mar to mid-May.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton