SPECIES DESCRIPTION
LEGOUSIA FALCATA

Family:- CAMPANULACEAE

Common Names:- Spicate Venus's looking glass

Synonyms:- Campanula falcata, Pentagonia falcata, Prismatocarpus
falcatus.Specularia falcata; Triodanis falcata.

Meaning:- Legousia. Meaning uncertain.
                  Falcata (L) Sickle-shaped.

General description:- More or less pubescent annual up to 50 cm.

Stems:-
   a) 20-40 cm tall.
   b) simple or sparingly branched.
   c) hairless or somewhat bristly.
   d) often tinged with purple.

Leaves:-
   a) often broadest above the middle (obovate), weakly undulate.
1) Lower:
   a) short-pedicellate.
   b) blade broadly elliptical, ± ciliate.
2) Upper:
   a) stalkless (sessile).

Flowers:-
   a) 5-8 mm.
   b) solitary or in pairs in the leaf-axils.
   c) in a lax spike forming at least 1/2 the total length of the stem.
1) Calyx-lobes:
   a) almost as long as the ovary when the flower is fully open and functional.
   b) linear-lance-shaped, narrowing gradually to a point.
   c) spreading (patent) or recurved.
2) Corolla:
   a) up to half as long as the calyx teeth.
   b) shallowly lobed.
   b) purplish-blue inside, paler outside.

Fruit:-
1) Capsule:
   a) 15-20 mm.
   b) narrow, cylindrical.

Key features:-
1) Flowers in a lax spike forming at least ½ the total length of the stem.
2) Calyx-lobes almost as long as the ovary at anthesis.
3) Corolla up to half as long as the calyx teeth.
4) Plant smooth.

Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation, olive groves, open woodland and
embankments on various substrates. 0-1300 m.

Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece, except the interior north and smaller
islands. - Widespread in the Mediterranean region and SW Asia. Rare on Crete
currently known from only a few scattered locations.

Flowering time:- Mid-Apr to June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis