CICHORIUM SPINOSUM

Family:- COMPOSITAE

Common Name:- Spiny chicory

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Cichorium (Gr) A name used by the Greek philosopher Theophrastrus

from the Arabic 'kesher' for chicory.

Spinosum (L) Spiny, with spines.

General description:- Densely and intricately branched subshrub, forming mounds

to 20cm tall, occasionally more.

Stems:-

1) 3·5-18 cm, divaricately branched from the base.

2) Upper branches non-flowering and spine-like.

Leaves:-

1) 2-9 X 0·2-1·5 cm, fleshy, runcinate or dentate, glabrous.

Flowers:-

1) Capitula, mostly in the dichotomies of the stem, subsessile in groups of 1-4.

2) Involucre, 5-8 X 2-3 mm.

3) Outer bracts, ovate to broadly elliptical.

4) Inner, lanceolate, c. 3 times as long as the outer.

5) Ligules blue, rarely pink or white, about twice as long as the involucre.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes, 1·5-2 mm.

2) Pappus-scales 1/10-1/8 as long as the achene.

Key features:-

1) Upper branches non-flowering and spine-like.

2) Involucre 5-8 mm.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Sandy and gravelly coastal habitats. 0-50(-150) m, ascending to 1500 m.

occasionally even higher.

Distribution:- S Spain, Balearic Is., Italy, Sicily, S Greece, Aegean Is., Crete and

Cyprus. Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Apr to mid-July.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton