RUBIA TINCTORUM

Family and Genus:- See- RUBIACEAE

Common Names:- Dyer's madder

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Rubia (L) Red, a name used by the Roman naturalist and philosopher

Pliny for madder.

Tinctorum (L) Of the dyers.

General description:- Sprawling or scrambling perennial herb with a tough and

stringy rhizome, stained red

Stem:-

1) Up to 150 cm, climbing.

Leaves:-

1) In whorls of 4-6, 30-80 x 8-22 mm, tapering evenly at both ends, somewhat

coriaceous;

a) margin and lower midrib, retrorsely aculeolate, light green, with prominent

lateral veins beneath.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, terminal, broadly pyramidal, lax and many-flowered.

2) Corolla, (4-)5-merous, infundibuliform, c. 2.5 mm in diam. pale greenish-yellow;

a) lobes, broadly lanceolate, acute.

3) Anthers, 0.6~0.8 x c. 0.2 mm, oblong.

Fruit:-

1) Mericarps, 4-6 mm in diam., subglobose, finally black and fleshy

Key features:-

1) Anthers 0·5-0·6 mm, linear-oblong, 5-6 times as long as wide.

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Habitat:- Seasonally damp thickets by roads and streams, stone walls between

fields and olive groves, occasionally semi-natural habitats in gorges. 0-700 m. Fl.

May-Aug.

Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. - Probably native to SW Asia, widely

naturalised in the Mediterranean region. Rare on Crete known from a few scattered

coastal locations. (see map).

Flowering time:- May-Aug.

Photos by:- Kind permission of Saxifraga - Free Nature Images