MALCOLMIA FLEXUOSA subsp NAXENSIS

In the Aegean area this species is represented by subsp. flexuosa and subsp.

naxensis (Rech. f.) Stork.¹⁾

1) Arne Strid "Atlas of the Aegean Flora". Book 1 2016

Family and Genus:- See- CRUCIFERAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Malcolmia (L) For William Malcolm, eighteenth-century English

nurseryman.

Flexuosa (L) Sinuous, winding, tortuous.

General description:- Annual 10-35 cm, with bi- to quadrifid hairs.

Stems:-

1) Up to 40(-60) cm. Usually decumbent and much branched, often purplish.

Leaves:-

1) Obovate to oblong, cuneate, margins entire or dentate.

Flower:-

1) (7-)9-20(-25) mm across.

2) Inflorescence, long, ebracteate, lax, many flowered.

3) Sepals, (7-)8-10 mm.

4) Petals, (12-) 15-26 x (5-) 7-10 mm.

5) Stigma, 1·5-4 mm.

Fruit:-

1) Siliquae, 15-80 x (0.8-) 12(-3) mm, attenuate to a beak 2.55 (-7) mm in fruit.

2) Seeds, flat, 1.3-2.3 X 0.8-2 mm.

Key features:-

1) Pedicels, in fruit 1-2·5 mm diam at their base, about as wide as the siliqua.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Common on sandy and rocky shores, occasionally rocky places in open

dry shrubby vegetation or along roads up to 500 m.

Distribution:- Widely distributed along the eastern and northern coast of the Greek

mainland, Aegean islands and Crete. Scattered around the coastal areas of Crete,

not too common.

Flowering time:- Mar to mid-May.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis