SPECIES DESCRIPTION
FILAGO GALLICA
Family:- COMPOSITAE
Common Names:- Narrow-leaved cudweed
Synonyms:- Logfia gallica
Meaning:- Filago (L) Thread.
Gallica (L) From France, French.
General description:- Slender erect, silvery-tomentose annual.
Stem:-
1) 10-30 cm, furcate.
Leaves:-
1) Numerous, subappressed, 15-25 x 0·8-1·5 mm, linear-lanceolate, with ± involute
margins.
Flowers:-
1) Capitula 2·5-4 x 2-2·5 mm, pyramidal-ovoid, 5-angled, in clusters of 2-14,
subtending leaves linear-lanceolate, usually longer than the clusters.
2) Middle involucral bracts 3 x 0·7 mm, strongly saccate at the base. stellately
spreading in fruit.
3) Inner female florets 8-12, 1·8-2·5 mm; hermaphrodite 2-3, 2·2-2·5 mm.
4) Outer receptacular scales enclosing the corresponding floret.
Fruit:-
1) Achenes
a) of the outer florets 0·8-0·9 x 0·4 mm.
b) of the inner florets c. 0·6 x 0·25 mm.
2) Pappus 2-2·5 mm. with silky, white hairs c. 3 times as long as the achene.
Key features:-
1) Leaves 15-25 mm, linear to filiform, often with an involute margin.
2) The clusters of the capitula are usually much shorter than the subtending leaves.
3) Middle involucral bracts strongly saccate at the base.
Habitat:- Coastal habitats, scrub, olive groves, dry pastures, open woodland, in
gravel along roads and tracks. 0-1100 m.
Distribution:- lroughout Greece but rare in the trior north. - Mediterranean area and
SW Europe, Canary Islands, Azores, Anatolia. Widespread and common on Crete.
Flowering time:- Apr-June
Photos by:- Sarah Sells
