PTILOSTEMON STELLATUS

Family and Genus:- See- COMPOSITAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Carduus stellatus, Cirsium stellatum, Cnicus stellatus,

Lamyra stellata, Lamyra stipulacea.

Meaning:- Ptilostemon (Gr) Feathery-stamened-one.

Stellatus (L) With spreading rays, star-like.

General description:- Slender, erect annual.

Stems:-

1) Not winged; (6-)15-30(-70) cm,.unbranched or sparingly branched above.

Leaves:-

1) Linear to linear-lanceolate, entire, sparsely arachnoid-hairy to glabrescent and

scabrid above. With 1-3 stout basal spines (5-)10-20(-35) mm on each side, and

an apical spine 1-1·5 mm.

Flowers:-

1) Capitula, 2-7, short-pedunculate, forming a raceme-like inflorescence, rarely

solitary.

2) Involucre, 15-25 x 10-15 mm; broadly cylindrical.

3) Outer and middle phyllaries, rigid, linear-lanceolate, tapering into a spine, with a

conspicuous whitish swelling on the lower adaxial side.

4) Corolla, 12-18 mm.

5) Florets, pinkish.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes, 4-5 mm, obliquely obovoid, scarcely compressed, smooth, with a

circular apical disc.

2) Pappus, of long plumose hairs, 11-15 mm.

Key features:-

1) Stem, not winged.

2) Leaves, not decurrent, densely tomentose beneath, with 1-3 stout basal spines

on each side.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry grassland, olive groves, field margins, garigue and dry, open

woodland 0-1100 m.

Distribution:- Rather frequent in Peluponnisus, W.mainland Greece and Ionian

Islands, lacking in the interior N and NE. - S. Italy & Sicily, W Balkan Peninsula

from Dalmatia southwards, Rare on Crete currently know from a few locations in the

central south-west.

Flowering time:- Mid-May to July.

Photos by:- Saxifraga-Jeroen Willemsen