LIMONIUM ELAPHONISICUM

Including:- 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.

Elaphonisicum (L) From the area of Elafonissi, west Crete

General description:- Glabrous perennial with a stout, branched woody stock,

forming loose tufts.

Stems:-

1) Erect, 20-30 cm, slender and flexuous, sparingly branched, with few sterile

branches.

Leaves:-

1) Basal, 15-30 x 3-5 mm, oblanceolate-spathulate, V-shaped in cross-section, 1-

veined. Greyish-green, with an acute or mucronate, often recurved apex.

Flowers:-

1) Spikes, lax and slender.

a) spikelets, appressed to the axis,1-flowered.

2) Inner bracts, 8-9 mm, ±; 3-coloured.

3) Calyx, 8-8.5 mm, narrowly, infundibuliform, densely tomentose in the lower half.

4) Corolla bluish.

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Habitat:- Sandy beaches and dunes with small outcrops of limestone or

conglomerate. 0-40 m.

Distribution:- Cretan endemic. Confined to the southwestern coast of Crete,

between Cape Elafonisos and Cape Krios

Flowering time:- May-June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis

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LIMONIUM CHERSONESUM Back to Top

Homotypic Synonyms:-

Meaning:- Chersonesum (L) The epithet refers to Chersonesus, the old name of

the city Hersonissos.

Resembling Limonium elaphonisicum, but differering in the following characters:

1) Spikelets, more densely arranged.

2) Inner bracts, shorter.

Habitat:- Calcareous rocky coast.

Distribution:- Endemic, confined to the coast near Hersonissos in northeast Crete

Flowering time:- May-June.

Photos currently unavailable