CYNOGLOSSUM SPHACIOTICUM

Family:- BORAGINACEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Cynoglossum (Gr) Hound's-tongue, a name used by the Greek

physician Dioscorides' to describe the rough texture of the leaf.

Sphacioticum (Gr) Damaged-looking, of gangrened appearance.

General description:- Woody-based perennial.

Stems:-

a) 5-15 cm.

b) suberect, simple or branched above.

c) hirsute.

Leaves:-

1) Cauline:

a) linear-lanceolate. sessile.

b) hairy on both surfaces.

2) Basal:

a) oblanceolate.

b) pilose on both sides and with ± deflexed hairs on the margins.

c) greyish-green.

Flowers:-

1) Cymes:

a) simple or forked ebracteate.

2) Calyx-lobes:

a) c. 3 mm.

b) oblong.

c) hirsute.

3) Corolla limb:

a) c. 5 mm, diam.

b) deep blue to violet.

c) tube, broadly funnel-shaped (infundibuliform).

d) limb, as long as the tube or somewhat longer.

e) lobes hairless (glabrous).

f) scales crescent-shaped.

4) Stamens inserted in the middle of the tube.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets.

a) dorsal face 7 x 5.5 mm.

b) ovate, convex.

c) densely and uniformly beset with dense and unequal barbed bristles

(glochidiate), without a differentiated border.

Key features:-

1) Corolla 4-6 mm, without reticulate venation.

2) Perennial.

3) Corolla-scales crescent-shaped.

Habitat:- Dry, rocky limestone slopes and screes, rock ledges 1800-2300 m.

Distribution:- A rare local endemic of the Lefka Ori.

Flowering time:- May-June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis & Lucia Cortopassi

Status:-

Conservation status (for threatened species): Rare (R) according to the

Red Data Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece (1995) - Rare (R)

according to IUCN 1997

Protection status (for threatened species): Greek Presidential Decreev67/1981