AMELANCHIER OVALIS subsp. CRETICA

Family and Genus:- See- ROSACEAE

Common Names:- Cretan mespilus

Homotypic Synonyms:- Amelanchier cretica

Meaning:- Amelanchier (L) A Provencal name, amelancier, for A. ovalis.

Ovalis (Gr) Egg-shaped, oval.

Cretica (L) From Crete, Cretan.

General description:- Erect or spreading shrub up to 3 m; bark blackish; young

twigs woolly hairy.

Twigs:-

1) Lanate, becoming subglabrous, dark reddish.

Leaves:-

1) Simple;

a) lamina, 20-65 x 13-35 mm, oblong to broadly obovate, lanate on both sides

when young, glabrescent, serrate-dentate with 7-20 teeth on either side.

2) Petiole, 5-15 mm.

Flowers:-

1) Racemes, 3- to 8-flowered, erect, lanate.

2) Sepals, at first lanate, soon glabrous.

3) Petals, 14-17 mm, several times longer than the sepals, white.

4) Styles, 5, free.

Fruit:-

1) Small, 4- to 10-celled, bluish- or purplish-black, usually juicy and sweet.

2) Pedicels, 5-10 mm.

Key features:-

1) Styles, free.

2) Leaves, serrate-dentate with 7-20 teeth on either side.

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Habitat:- Rocky places in open, deciduous and coniferous woodland. 400-1800(-

2200) m. mainly on limestone.

Distribution:- S & W Greece, Sicily and S & C Italy. Rare on Crete known only

from the Psiloritis and Lefka Ori massifs.

Flowering time:- May-July.

Photos by:- Sixela Xela and Fotis Samaritakis