CERINTHE MAJOR

Family and Genus:- See- BORAGINACEAE

Common Name:- Honeywort, Goldendrop

Accepted Infraspecifics:- Cerinthe major subsp. major, Cerinthe major subsp.

oranensis. Cerinthe major subsp. purpurascens.

Meaning:- Cerinthe (Gr) Wax-flower.

Major (L) Large, greater, bigger.

General description:- Rather fleshy, grey-green, almost hairless (glabrescent)

short to medium annual.

Stems:-

1) 15-60 cm.

Leaves:-

1) All covered with small, white, tuberculate.

a) Lower, oblong, broadest above the middle, petiolate, margin ciliate.

b) Upper, oval. amplexicaul, cordate, at the base.

Flowers:-

1) Bracts, ovate, subcordate, at the base, equalling or longer than the calyx, often

glaucous.

2) Calyx-lobes, acute, ciliate.

3) Corolla,15-30 x 5-8 mm, slightly saccate, straight, yellow, with a reddish-brown

ring in the throat, sometimes cream distally, or dark red throughout, more than

twice as long as the calyx.

a) lobes, ovate, sharply recurved at the apex.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets, blackish.

Key features:-

1) Corolla, 5-8 mm wide, more than twice as long as the calyx. straight, yellow or

dark red, usually with red spots or ring at the throat.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Cultivated, fallow and waste places, roadsides, stony slopes, field

margins, seasonally damp roadsides. 0-400(-800) m.

Distribution:- Widespread around the Mediterranean region eastwards to SW

Anatolia. but not the Balearic Is. or Cyprus. Somewhat limited distribution on Crete

mainly C and W.

Flowering time:- Mar-June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton