SPECIES DESCRIPTION
LIMONIUM STENOTATUM
Family and Genus:- See- PLUMBAGINACEAE
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- Limonium graecum var. stenotatum
Meaning:- Limonium (Gr) Meadow-plant. A name used by the Greek physician
and botanist Dioscorides.
Stenostatum (L)
General description:- Glabrous perennial, forming a sub-shrub 10-30 cm tall, with
few to numerous ascending to erect stems and a robust tap-root.
Caudices:-
1) 3-18 cm long, branched, densely spirally leafy in the upper two thirds or half.
Stems:-
1) Green to glaucous, tuberculate with many crateriform glands or sometimes more
or less verrucate, 10-28 cm long, more or less flexuous, constricted at the nodes,
branching frequently begins near the base, some times proliferating in axils.
2) Branches:
a) sterile, mostly numerous, 1-3 cm long, straight, tuberculate with many
crateriform glands, unbranched.
b) fertile, 3-9 cm long, tuberculate with many crateriform glands, slightly arched,
constricted at nodes, directed obliquely upwards, forming branching angles of
45°-80°, sometimes branched in the lower half.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, trullate or obtrullate in outline.
2) Spikes, 40-110 mm long, straight to slightly curved, erect to directed obliquely
upwards; axis of spike with many crateriform glands.
a) spikelets, 9.0-10.0 mm long, composed of 1-5 flowers, very remotely
arranged with 1-4 per 2 cm.
3) Bracts:
a) outer, 2.6-3.0 x 2.1-2.6 mm, triangular-ovate, obtuse, margin broadly
membranous, central part slightly fleshy, occasionally with some crateriform
glands, acuminate.
b) middle, membranous, 2.8-3.1 x 1.8-2.2 mm, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, rounded.
c) inner, 7.8-8.2 x 4.3-4.8 mm, obovate to elliptic, obtuse to rounded, margin
more or less broadly membranous, central part fleshy, 5.8-6.4 mm long and
2.6-3.5 mm broad, oblong to oblong-obovate, acuminate, forming a triangular
tip, 1.0-1.3 mm long, not reaching the upper margin.
4) Calyx, 6.5-7.2 mm long, exceeding the inner bract by 0.5-1.5 mm.
a) tube, glabrous or covered with few short hairs, with 5 ribs ending at the base of
the lobes.
b) lobes, ca. 0.6 × 0.9 mm, semi-elliptic.
5) Corolla, lilac.
Habitat:- Rocky coasts on different substrates and salt marshes.
Distribution:- Widespread on Crete, Karpathos and Kasos
Flowering time:- May-June.
Photos by:- Currenly unavailable
