PIMPINELLA TRAGIUM subsp. DEPRESSA

Family and Genus:- See- UMBELLIFERAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Pimpinella. A medieval name of uncertain meaning.

Tragium. Meaning unknown, but trago- = goat-

Depressa (L) Flattened downwards, depressed.

General description:- Pubescent to glabrous perennial, stock with abundant

scale-like remains of the leaf-stalk.

Stem:-

1) (5-)10-50(-100) cm. striate, solid.

Leaves:-

1) Mostly basal, 1-pinnate with 2-6 pairs of subsessile, ovate, incised-serrate

leaflets.

2) Upper cauline, often reduced to sheaths.

Flowers:-

1) Rays, 5-15, glabrous or pubescent.

2) Bracts and bracteoles, absent or few.

3) Petals, pubescent on the back.

Fruit:-

1) c. 2 mm, ovoid, tomentose.

Key features:-

1) Plant glabrous to greyish-pubescent.

2) Fruit, c. 2 mm, ovoid.

3) Leaf-lobes, oblong, incise-serrate or lobed.

4) Leaves, 1-pinnate; leaf-bases not or scarcely sheathing it; leaf-lobes up to c. 5

mm, ovate, deeply toothed

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Habitat:- Calcareous rocky and gravelly places, crevices, screes and flat, clayey

doline bottoms, sometimes growing through spiny, dwarf shrubs. 1000-2300 m

Distribution:- Endemic to Crete occurring in the three highest massifs above 1200

Flowering time:- June-July.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis