KICKXIA COMMUTATA subsp GRAECA

Family and Genus:- See- PLANTAGINACEAE

Common Names:- Sharp-leaved fluellen

Homotypic Synonyms:- Linaria elatine, Kickxia elatine ssp. sieberi, Linaria

sieberi.

Meaning:- Kickxia (L) For Jean Jaques Kickx (1775-1831) Belgian cryptogamic

botanist.

Commutata (L) Changed, altered.

Graecum (L) From Greece, Greek.

General description:- Annual. whole plant sparsely glandular- and eglandular-

pilose

Stems:-

1) 20-70 cm, sprawling, slender, moderately branched

Leaves:-

1) Very small, 8-18 mm, acute, rather narrow:

a) uppermost, and those of the branches lanceolate-sagittate.

2) Pedicels, 2-6 times as long as subtending leaf.

Flowers:-

1) Solitary in the leaf axils.

2) Pedicels, filiform, 12-25 mm, in fruit turned upwards just below the capsule.

3) Calyx, 4-5 mm:

a) lobes, linear-lanceolate, very acute, hispid.

4) Corolla, 11-15 mm, whitish:

a) upper lip, bluish-violet yellow.

b) lower lip, purple-spotted palate.

5) Spur, strongly curved.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 2·5-4 mm, globose; wall rather thick and rigid.

2) Seeds, 0·75-1 mm, tuberculate.

Key features:-

1) Corolla, 7-15 mm; capsule at least 2·5 mm.

2) Seeds, tuberculate; wall of capsule rather thick and rigid; spur strongly curved.

3) Branches, long, and slender.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Fallow and harvested fields. 0-600(-1100) m.

Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece, but less common in the north. -

Mediterranean region and Anatolia. Somewhat limited distribution across Crete,

mainly along the northern coast. scattered elsewhere.

Flowering time:- (Apr-) May-Sept

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis