RANUNCULUS VERONICAE

Family and Genus:- See- RANUNCULACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Ranunculus (L) Little-frog, diminutive of rana, (reference to the water-

loving habit of many species).

Veronicae (Gr) devoted to nomenclatural author's wife.

General description:- Delicate, very small and slender; whole plant sparsely

patent-pubescent.

Stems:-

1) 3-9 cm, simple or with one branching.

Leaves:-

1) Basal, comparatively large, ± orbicular, divided for 1/3-1/2 into obtuse, crenate,

overlapping lobes.

Flowers:-

1) Sepals, deflexed.

2) Petals, small and narrow 5.5-8 x 2.5-3 mm narrowly obovate, bright yellow. not

contiguous.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes;

a) head, broadly ovoid to subglobose.

b) body, strongly compressed, 2.5-3 mm, obliquely suborbicular, smooth and

glabrous, winged;

c) wing, confluent with a falcate or almost straight beak, 1-1.5 mm.

Key features:-

1) Blade, of the basal leaves divided for 1/3-1/2.

2) Petals, 5.5-8 narrowly obovate.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Damp crevices and stony soil pockets of schistose rocks under a canopy

of Platanus. 350-400 m. with Allium subhirsutum, Arisarum vulgare, Cyclamen

creticum, etc.

Distribution:- A rare local endemic discovered in 1998 by Niels Bohling, and

currently know from only one location in the extreme west.

Flowering time:- Mid-Mar - May

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis