ASPHODELINE LIBURNICA

Family:- ASPHODELACEAE

Common Name:- None

Synonyms:- Asphodelus liburnicus, Dorydium liburnicum.

Meaning:- Asphodeline (Gr) Asphodelus-like (silver rod).

Liburnica (L) From Croatia.

Stem:-

a) 25-60 cm.

b) rather slender.

c) leafy only in lower half.

Leaves:-

1) Lamina:

a) not more than 25 cm x 2·5 mm.

b) entire.

c) deep green or bluish-green.

Flowers:-

1) Blooms:

a) 30-40 mm.

b) somewhat asymmetric.

c) borne in a lax raceme.

d) petals, 18-20 mm long, yellow, with a green mid-vein.

2) Pedicels:

a) articulated near the base.

3) Stamens:

a) 3 long and 3 short, the former with markedly curved stalks (filaments).

4) Bracts:

a) 15 x 3 mm.

b) deltate-orbicular, with long arista.

5) Perianth-lobes:

a) 20-25 x 4-7 mm.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule:

a) 10 mm.

b) globose.

2) Seeds:

a) 4-5 mm.

b) trigonous.

c) black.

Key features:-

1) Bracts not more than 15 x 3 mm.

2) Stem leafy only in the lower part.

Habitat:- Rocky slopes in hills and mountains, dry open shrubby vegetation,

occasionally on cliffs or by roadsides or in scrub.

Distribution:- Italy, Sicily, the Balkans and Crete eastwards, including Cyprus.

Fairly well scattered across Crete.

Flowering time:- Mar-May.

Photo by:- Steve Lenton