TRIPOLIUM PANNONICUM

Family:- COMPOSITAE

Common Name:- Sea aster

Synonym:- Aster pannonicus, Aster tripolium subsp. pannonicus, Galatella

tripolium subsp. pannonica, Tripolium vulgare var. pannonicum.

Meaning:- Tripolium (Gr) A name used by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus

for a plant with three times the strength of teucrium polium.

Pannonicum (L) From SW. Hungary (Pannonia)

General description:- Annual or short-lived perennial.

Stems:-

1) (5-)20-60(-115) cm. erect or ascending, branched from the base upwards, often

reddish, glabrous or nearly so.

Leaves:-

1) Lanceolate to linear, moderately to strongly succulent and then more or less

terete, the lower narrowed into a long petiole and semiamplexicaul.

2) Sessile, with a wide base.

Flowers:-

1) Capitula in corymbs or flat-topped panicles with bright blue or purple rays

surrounding a yellow disc, 8-20mm.

2) Involucral bracts, in 2-3 rows, oblong, subobtuse to rounded, with or without

cilia.

3) Ligules 10-30, bright blue or lilac, often absent.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes oblong, usually compressed, more or less hairy and often glandular.

2) Pappus-hairs scabrid, whitish to yellowish or reddish, often unequal, in 1-2

indistinct rows.

Key features:-

1) Leaves eglandular, glabrous and ± succulent, the lower long-petiolate.

2) Inner involucral bracts subobtuse to rounded.

3) Stem glabrous.

4) Ligules much longer than the pappus.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Coastal, habitats, sometimes in saline places inland. 0-5 m.

Distribution:- Widespread throughout the Mediterranean coastal areas. Rare on

Crete known only from a few coastal locations in the northwest.

Flowering time:- (May-)July-Nov.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis