SPECIES DESCRIPTION
LIMONIUM AMMOPHILON
Family and Genus:- See- PLUMBAGINACEAE
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- Limonium graecum subsp. ammophilon
Meaning:- Limonium (Gr) Meadow-plant. A name used by the Greek physician
and botanist Dioscorides.
Ammophilon (Gr) Sand-loving.
General description:- Glabrous perennial, forming a sub-shrub 15-30 cm tall, with
some erect stems and a robust tap-root
Caudices:-
1) 20-30 mm long, branched, spirally leafy in the upper half.
Stems:-
1) 15-30 cm long, tuberculate with many crateriform glands, slightly glaucous,
flexuous, branching frequently begins near the base.
2) Branches:
a) sterile, numerous, 2-5 cm long, branched.
b) fertile, 3-7 cm long, slightly arched, obliquely directed upwards, forming
branching angles of 50°-65°, undivided or sometimes branched in the upper
half.
Leaves:-
1) Fleshy, rigid, tuberculate with many crateriform glands, glaucous, 20-40 x 2-7
mm tapering into the petiole.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, trullate in outline.
2) Spikes, 10-70 mm long, straight, inserted erect to obliquely; axis of the spike
with many crateriform glands.
a) spikelets, 7.5-10.0 mm long, composed of 1-4 flowers, remotely arranged with
2-3 per cm, laterally slightly curved near the base.
3) Bracts:
a) outer, 2.2-3.8 x 2.3-2.9 mm, triangular-ovate, obtuse to acute, densely very
shortly hairy, margin narrowly membranous; central part slightly fleshy,
sometimes only at the base, acuminate.
b) middle, membranous, 2.9-4.0 x 2.0-2.8 mm, oblong to oblong-obovate,
rounded, shortly hairy.
c) inner, 7.0-8.5 x 4.2-5.2 mm, obovate, rounded to obtuse, densely shortly hairy
in the upper two thirds, margin narrowly membranous; central part fleshy, 5.5-
7.0 x 3.0-3.8 mm, oblong-obovate, acuminate, forming a narrowly triangular tip
1.0- 1.7 mm long, not reaching the upper margin.
4) Calyx, 5.8-6.8 mm long, exceeding the inner bract by 1.0-1.5 mm.
a) tube, more or less sparsely short to long hairy, with 5 hairy ribs ending above
the base of the lobes.
b) lobes, ca. 0.5 × 1.2 mm, broadly semi-elliptic.
5) Corolla, lilac.
Habitat:- Rocky coasts of various substrates, sandy places. 0-10 m.
Distribution:- Endemic to Greece and not recorded outside the Aegean area. Rare
on Crete, currently known from only two locations
Flowering time:- Mid May to August, occasionally later.
Photos:- A.N. Other
