SPECIES DESCRIPTION
CAROXYLON AEGAEUM
Including Caroxylon carpathum
Family and Genus:- See- Amaranthaceae
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- Nitrosalsola aegaea, Salsola aegaea.
Meaning:- Caroxylon (L) Meaning, not known.
Aegeaum (L) From the Aegean region.
General description:- Dense, divaricately much branched, greyish-green shrublet.
Stem:-
1) 20-60 cm tall, twigs slender, puberulent.
Leaves:-
1) lower, semi-terete, narrowly oblong.
2) upper, and bracts 2-4 mm semi-terete, ovate-triangular, subobtuse, pubescent.
Flowers:-
1) Inconspicuous, solitary in the axils of the bracts, forming dense spikes.
2) Perianth segments, broadly winged in fruit.
Fruit:- Not known.
Key features:-
1) Plant, not more than 30 cm.
2) Branches, divaricate.
Habitat:- Rugged, calcareous or volcanic cliffs,sometimes dominant in the epilitoral
zone on small islands, occasionally in dry open shrubby vegetation on rocky slopes
up to 450 m.
Distribution:- Endemic to the Aegean area. On Crete confined mainly to the
eastern coastal regions.
Flowering time:- June-Sep., frequently until late Oct.
Photos by:- Popi Bormpoudaki & Erastos Kampouropoulos
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CAROXYLON CARPATHUM Back to Top
Homotypic Synonyms:- Salsola carpatha
Meaning:- Carpathum (L) From the Carpathian mountains between Vienna and
Romania.
Resembling Caroxylon aegaeum, but differering in the following characters:-
1) Leaves, longer, flat, narrowly elliptical, acute; spikes lax.
Habitat:- Crevices of coastal limestone cliffs.often on small islands. 0-100 m.
Distribution:- Endemic Crete, Karpathos & Kyklides. Rare on Crete currently
known only from the far N E.
Flowering time:- June-August.
Photos by:-