ATRAPHAXIS BILLARDIERI

Family and Genus:- See- POLYGONACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Tragopyrum billardierei

Meaning:- Atraphaxis, Meaning unknown

Billardierei (L) For Jaques Julia Houtou de la Billardiere (1755-1834),

French botanist.

General description:- Intricately branched, rigid shrublet up to 80 cm tall and

wide.

Leaves:-

1) Generally 8-15 x 4-8 mm. subsessile to short-petiolate, ovate-oblong, reticulate-

veined, becoming somewhat coriaceous, sometimes slightly acuminate but not

mucronate.

Flowers:-

1) In short, lax, terminal racemes.

2) Perianth; of 4 or 5 segments.

a) inner, 2 5-9 × 4-8 mm in fruit and nearly twice as long as the nut, white to

pale pink when young, turning deeper pink with age.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlet, 2.5-4 x 1.5-2 mm, trigonous, smooth and glossy, dark brown.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry rocky limestone slopes and flats 650-1800 m. Rare but locally

gregarious.

Distribution:- Probably extinct on the Greek mainland, but with healthy

populations on Chios and Samos - An IranoTuranian species, occuring from the

Aegean area and Anatolia to Lebanon and W Iran. Rare on Crete confined to the

Lekfa Ori and Psiloritis massifs where it is known from only two areas.

Flowering time:- May to early July

Photos by:- Courtesy of Flora of Israel, Ori Fragman_Sapir