SPECIES DESCRIPTION
ASPHODELUS FISTULOSUS

Family:- ASPHODELACEAE              

Common Name:- Annual asphodel

Synonyms:- Asphodeloides ramosa, Ophioprason fistulosum, Verinea
fistulosa.

Meaning:- Asphodelus (Gr) Silver rod.
                  Fistulosus (L) With a hollow stem.

General description:- Annual or short-lived perennial with a fascicle of thick,
fibrous roots (generally 2-3 mm in diam.).

Scape:-
   a) 0-60 cm tall. erect.
   b) moderately branched above.

Leaves:-
   a) 2.5-4 mm wide at the middle. half as long as the plant.
   b) numerous, all basal.
   c) linear, somewhat fleshy, tubular (fistulose), slightly compressed.
   d) with minutely papillose angles.

Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence:
   a) bracts small, edges thin and dry, paper-like (scarious).
2) Perianth segments:
   a) 9-12 mm.
   b) elliptical.
   c) white or pale pink with a purplish-brown mid-vein.
3) Stamens:
   a) equalling the perianth segments.
   b) filaments symmetrically swollen, white.
   c) anthers orange-brown.
4) Style:
   a) equalling or somewhat exceeding the perianth segments.
   b) stigma pin-headed (capitate), 3-lobed, papillose, pink.

Fruit:-
1) CapsuIe:
   a) c. 5 mm.
   b) broadly obovoid, smooth.
   c) fruiting stem (pedicel) 5-9 mm, with a joint just below the middle, somewhat
       swollen above.

Key features:-
1) Slender annual or short-lived perennial with hollow, smooth and usually
cylindrical and tapering (subterete) leaves and slender roots.
2) Capsule 5-7 x 4-5 mm.
3) Perianth segments 9-12 mm.

Habitat:- Open shrubby places, rocky slopes, waste ground, roadsides, olive
groves, open pine forest.

Distribution:- N. Africa, E. Med, including Cyprus, scarcer in the European
Mediterranean. Sparse on Crete confined mainly to the southern coastal regions of
west and east Crete.
.
Flowering time:- Mar-May.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton