VALERIANELLA MICROCARPA

Family and Genus:- See- VALERIANACEAE/V. eriocarpa group.

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Valerianella (L) Diminutve of Valeriana.

Microcarpa (Gr) Small-fruited

General description:- Low to short, minutely hairy annual.

Stem:-

1) Up to 30(-50) cm.

Leaves:-

1) Lower cauline, ovate-spathulate, obtuse, entire or sinuate

2) Middle and upper, narrowly ovate to oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, entire to dentate,

3) Uppermost coarsely toothed to pinnatifid at the base.

Flowers:-

1) Bracts, toothed or auriculate, near the base, green, with narrow, scarious

margins.

a) lower, linear-spathulate, obtuse.

b) upper, narrowly triangular, acute.

2) Calyx obliquely truncate, much shorter and narrower than the fruit, with unequal

teeth.

Fruit:-

1) 1-2 mm, in numerous, small, fasciculate terminal clusters, solitary in the lower

dichotomies,

Key features:-

1) Fruit, no more than 2mm,

2) Bracts, toothed or auriculate, near the base,

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation, meadows, olive groves, open woodland. 0-

700(-1100) m.

Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece, but rare in the W and far N. - Probably

widespread in the Mediterranean region. Somewhat scattered across Crete, but

denser in the centre and central-western areas.

Flowering time:- Mar-May.

Photo by:- Dr. Armin Jagel