CYMBALARIA LONGIPES

Family and Genus:- See- PLANTAGINACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Linaria longipes

Meaning:- Cymbalaria (L) Cymbal-like (reference to the leaves).

Longipes (L) Long stalked.

General description:- Low, slender trailing perennial, hairless apart from the fruit.

Stems:-

1) Up to 60 cm; middle and upper internodes about equal.

Leaves:-

1) Alternate, simple, rounded to reniform, with 5 to 9 lobes, green above and a little

purplish below, not more than 15 x 20 mm across, fleshy, glabrous, with a long

petiole. nervation palmate.

Flowers:-

1) Bilaterally symmetrical, violet purple, lilaceous, seldom white, with yellow marks,

from 7-15 mm long. Solitary at the axil of the leaves, on thin and long stalks.

2) Corolla, with 2 lips:

a) lower, 3-lobed.

3) Calyx, with 5 more or less unequal, glabrous sepals, with narrow, acute teeth.

4) Corolla:

a) spur, 4-5 mm, much longer than the calyx.

5) Stamens, 4 unequal

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 3-4 mm, minutely glandular-puberulent.

2) Seeds, of each loculus concrescent when ripe, forming a coarsely alveolate and

irregularly winged mass c. 3 x 2 mm.

Key features:-

1) Spur, 4-5 mm, much longer than the calyx.

2) Capsule, glandular-puberulent.

3) Seeds, of each loculus concrescent to a single mass.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Crevices of calcareous and conglomerate cliffs, rocky slopes, stone walls

of old buildings, occasionally in coastal shingle. 0-500 m. Fl. Late Mar to early

June.

Distribution:- S Greece, S Aegean Is. and the E Mediterranean region, including

Cyprus. On Crete confined to the Korikos and Sideros peninsulas.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to early June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis