SPECIES DESCRIPTION
POTENTILLA SPECIOSA subsp. SPECIOSA
Family and Genus:- See- ROSACEAE
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- potentilla parnassica
Meaning:- Potentilla (L) Quite-powerful, (reference to its medical properties).
Speciosa (L) Showy, handsome, semblance, good-looking.
General description:- Woody-based perennial forming clumps or mats.
Stems:-
1) Flowering, 6-20 cm, densely white-tomentose
Leaves:-
1) Basal, crowded, ternate, with a petiole 1-9 cm
a) leaflets, usually 8-30 x 5-18 mm, elliptic-obovate, crenate-dentate at least in
the apical half, either ± concolourous and white to grey-tomentose on both
sides.
Flowers:-
1) In rather dense, 3-6-flowered terminal cymes, campanulate, not opening widely.
2) Petals, 7-10 mm, slightly exceeding the sepals, spathulate, cream, persistent.
Fruit:-
1) Achenes.
Key features:-
1) Flowers, in rather dense, 3-6-flowered terminal cymes.
2) Petals, 7-10 mm, with a long claw. spathulate, cream.
3) Forming woody-based clumps in cliffs at high altitude.
4) Style, glabrous, or hairy at the extreme base, deciduous.
5) Leaflets, crenate-dentate at least in the apical 2/3, tomentose.
Habitat:- Crevices of limestone cliffs, rarely on other substrates. (600-)1200-1800 m
Distribution:- From Mt. Taigos to the NW borders. - W and S parts of the Balkan
Peninsula; scattered throughout Anatolia to Syria, N Iraq and NW Iran. Fairly rare
on Crete, confined to the three main massifs.
Flowering time:- Mid-June to the beginning of September.
Photos by:- Giorgos Palimetakis
