SPECIES DESCRIPTION
LIMONIUM CHERSONESUM
Family and Genus:- See- PLUMBAGINACEAE
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Limonium (Gr) Meadow-plant. A name used by the Greek physician
and botanist Dioscorides.
Chersonesum (L) Refers to Chersonesus, the old name of the city
Hersonissos.
General description:- Glabrous perennial, forming a sub-shrub 25-40 cm tall, with
some erect stems and a robust tap-root.
Caudices:-
1) 1-3 cm long, branched, densely spirally leafy in the upper half, living leaves at
apices in rosettes.
Stems:-
1) Slightly glaucous, verrucate or with some crateriform glands, 15-30 cm long,
flexuous, more or less constricted at nodes, branching begins near the base
of the stems, often proliferous at the nodes.
2) Branches:
a) sterile, numerous, 1-5 cm long, straight to flexuous, unbranched.
b) fertile, 1-8 cm long, straight to flexuous, more or less constricted at the
nodes, erect or directed obliquely upwards, forming branching angles of
20°- 30°, sometimes branched in the upper half.
Leaves:-
1) 10-30 x 2-4 mm, fleshy, glaucous, flat or v-shaped in cross-section, verrucate or
with crateriform glands, narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly spathulate, apex
acute to obtuse, sometimes retuse, with one central nerve, gradually tapering
into the petiole.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence narrowly obtrullate in outline.
2) Spikes, 10-80 mm long, straight to slightly curved, directed obliquely upwards.
a) spikelets, 7.5-8.0 mm long, composed of 1-3 flowers, remotely to densely
arranged with 1-5 per 1 cm.
3) Bracts;
a) outer, 2.3-3.2 x 2.0-2.5 mm, triangular-ovate, obtuse, margin broadly
membranous, central part slightly fleshy, sometimes only at the base,
acuminate.
b) middle, membranous, 2.8-3.1 x 1.9-2.2 mm, oblong-elliptic, rounded.
c) inner, glaucous, 6.2-7.0 x 3.6-3.8 mm, oblong-elliptic, rounded; margin broadly
membranous; central part fleshy, 4.5-5.5 x 2.2-2.8 mm, oblong, acuminate,
forming a triangular tip, 1.0-1.4 mm long, not reaching the upper margin.
4) Calyx, 5.4-6.2 mm long, exceeding the inner bract by 0.8-1.2 mm;
a) tube, sparsely, shortly to long hairy, with 5 ribs ending above the base of
the lobes;
b) lobes, ca. 0.6 × 0.8 mm, semi-elliptical.
5) Corolla lilac.
Key features:-
1) Stems, 15-30 cm long, warty, numerous sterile branches,
2) Leaves, 10-30 × 2-4, narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly spathulate, warty or with
some crateriform glands, 1-nerved,
3) Spikes, 10-80 mm long,
a) spikelets, 7.5-8.0 mm long, 1-3-flowered, arranged 1-5 in 1 cm.
4) Bracts:
a) lower, 2.3-3.2 × 2.0-2.5 mm, triangular-ovate.
b) middle, 2.8-3.1 × 1.9-2.2 mm, oblong-elliptic,
c) upper, 6.2-7.0 × 3.6-3.8 mm, oblong-elliptic, apex rounded, margin broadly
membranous,
5) Calyx, 5.4-6.2 mm long, protruding from the upper bract by 0.8-1.2 mm,
a) tube, sparsely hairy.
b) lobes, ca. 0.6 × 0.8 mm, semi-elliptic.
Habitat:- Calcareous rocky coast.
Distribution:- Endemic, confined to the coast near Hersonissos in northeast Crete
Flowering time:- May-June.
Flowering time:- May-June.
Photos:- currently unavailable
