CAMPANULA ERINUS

Family:- CAMPANULACEAE/Sect. CAMPANULA

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Erinia campanula, Roucela erinus, Wahlenbergia erinus.

Meaning:- Campanula (L) Bell-like.

Erinus (Gr) Of-spring.

General description:- Slender, erect or spreading annual, sparsely patent-

pubescent throughout

Stem:-

a) 3-10(-30) cm.

b) dichotomously branched.

c) weakly angular and striate.

Leaves:-

1) Blade:

a)1-2 cm.

b) alternate or opposite.

c) ovate or obovate.

d) margins, with rounded teeth (crenate-dentate), sometimes slightly lobed.

e) with bristles, bristly (setose).

f) stalkless (sessile).

Flowers:-

a) terminal and axillary.

b) sessile.

1) Calyx:

a) teeth, erect, acute, spreading (patent) after full flowering (anthesis), shorter

than the corolla.

2) Corolla:

a) 3-5 mm.

b) inconspicuous, slightly exceeding the calyx.

c) cylindrical.

d) pale blue.

3) Bracts:

a) with 1 or 2 pairs of blunt teeth.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule:

a) urn-shaped (urceolate).

b) pendent.

Key features:-

1) Calyx without appendages between the teeth.

2) Flowers sessile.

3) Corolla 3-5 mm.

4) Stigmas 3.

5) Ovary 3-locular

Habitat:- Rocky slopes with dry open shrubby vegetation , screes, rock ledges,

stone walls, margins of terraced fields and olive groves, generally on limestone,

0-800(-1300) m.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece but less common in the interior. - Widespread in

the Mediterranean region and SW Asia. Widely distributioned across Crete.

Flowering time:- Late March to mid-June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis