ASPHODELINE LIBURNICA

Family and Genus:- See- ASPHODELACEAE

Common Name:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Asphodelus liburnicus, Dorydium liburnicum.

Meaning:- Asphodeline (Gr) Asphodelus-like (silver rod).

Liburnica (L) From Croatia.

Stem:-

1) 25-60 cm, rather slender, leafy only in lower half.

Leaves:-

1) Not more than 25 cm x 2·5 mm, entire, deep green or bluish-green.

Flowers:-

1) Blooms, 30-40 mm, somewhat asymmetric borne in a lax raceme.

a) petals, 18-20 mm long, yellow, with a green mid-vein.

2) Pedicels, articulated near the base.

3) Stamens, 3 long and 3 short, the former with markedly curved filaments.

4) Bracts, 15 x 3 mm, deltate-orbicular, with long arista.

5) Perianth-lobes, 20-25 x 4-7 mm.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 10 mm, globose.

2) Seeds, 4-5 mm, trigonous, black.

Key features:-

1) Bracts, not more than 15 x 3 mm.

2) Stem, leafy only in the lower part.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Rocky slopes in hills and mountains, dry open shrubby vegetation,

occasionally on cliffs or by roadsides or in scrub.

Distribution:- Italy, Sicily, the Balkans and Crete eastwards, including Cyprus.

Fairly well scattered across Crete.

Flowering time:- Mar-May.

Photo by:- Steve Lenton