HELIANTHEMUM AEGYPTIACUM

Family:- CISTACEAE/Subgen. HELIANTHEMUM/Sect. BRACHYPETALUM

Common Names:- Egytian sunrose.

Synonyms:- Cistus aegypticus.

Meaning:- Helianthemum (Gr) Sun-flower.

Aegyptiacum (L) From Egypt, Egyptian.

General description:- Erect, little-branched annual.

Stems:-

1) Up to 30 cm stems and branches villous.

Leaves:-

1) 10-30 x 1·5-3 mm, linear-lanceolate or oblong, often with revolute margins, dark

green above, grey-tomentose beneath.

2) Stipules, linear, 1/3-1/4 as long as the leaves.

Flowers:-

1) Cymes, lax, 3- to 9-flowered.

2) Pedicels, long, filiform, deflexed in fruit.

4) Petals yellow, shorter than the sepals.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, appressed-pubescent.

Key features:-

1) Sepals, scarious

Habitat:- Open dry shrubby vegetation, fallow terraces, olive groves and open

coniferous woodland, usually on non-calcareous substrates. 0-800 m.

Distribution:- Rare and scattered in the Peloponnisos and mainland Greece.

Irregularly distributed in the Mediterranean region and SW Asia. Very rare on Crete

known from only two locations.

Flowering time:- Mar-June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis