SPECIES DESCRIPTION
Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Sect. ONONIS
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Ononis (Gr) A classical name used by the Greek physician
Dioscorides.
Spinosa (L) Spiny, with spines.
Diffusa (L) Loosely spreading, diffuse.
General description:- Procumbent or ascending annual.
Stems:-
1) 10-40 cm; glandular-hairy, viscid.
Leaves:-
1) 3-foliolate, but the basal sometimes pinnate.
2) Leaflets, 10-20 mm, oblanceolate to suborbicular, denticulate, with usually 10-16
more or less appressed teeth.
Flowers:-
1) Very shortly-pedicellate, borne singly at each node in a dense terminal raceme,
elongating considerably after anthesis.
2) Lowest bracts 3-foliolate, upper without leaflets.
3) Calyx, 7-8 mm; tube narrowly campanulate, whitish-green,
a) teeth, lanceolate, acuminate, somewhat longer than the tube.
4) Corolla, 9-11 mm, pink, equalling or exceeding the calyx.
Fruit:- Legume:
1) Legume, 5-8 mm.
2) Seeds, 1-3, c. 2 mm, reddish-brown, tuberculate.
Key features:-
1) Calyx, shorter than the corolla.
a) teeth, distinctly longer than the tube.
3) Middle cauline leaves, with leaflets 10-20 mm, denticulate, with usually 10-16
teeth.
4) Legume, with 1-3 seeds.
Habitat:- Sandy beaches and dunes, occasionally in open shrubby vegetation,
open coniferous woodland and ruderal habitats some distance inland. 0-200 m.
Distribution:- Mediterranean region, mostly in the W & C parts, but extending to
Cyprus. Very rare on Crete currently known from only one location.
Flowering time:- Apr-June
Photos by:- Dr. Armin Jagel
ONONIS SERRATA
Very similar to Ononis deffusa, but differering in the following characters:
1) Leaflets, generally smaller and narrower, with fewer teeth.
2) Spike, narrow and rather lax.
3) Flowers, somewhat smaller.
4) Seeds, 2-5, c. 1.5 mm in diam.
Habitat:- Coastal sand and steppe-like habitats near the sea, 0-50 m.
Flowering time:- April-May.
Very similar to Ononis deffusa, but differering in the following characters:
1) Leaflets, generally smaller and narrower, with fewer teeth.
2) Spike, narrow and rather lax.
3) Flowers, somewhat smaller.
4) Seeds, 2-5, c. 1.5 mm in diam.
Habitat:- Coastal sand and steppe-like habitats near the sea, 0-50 m.
Flowering time:- April-May.
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