LYSIMACHIA SERPYLLIFOLIA

Family and Genus:- See- PRIMULACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Lysimachia anagalloides

Meaning:- Lysimachia (Gr) Ending-strife, A name used by the Greek physician

and botanist Dioscorides.

Serpyllifolia (L) Thyme-leaved.

General description:- Short-lived perennial, slightly woody at base.

Stems:-

1) 5-20 cm. several, slender, ascending, simple or sparingly branched.

Leaves:-

1) 6-11 x 3-6(-8) mm, opposite, oval, margin entire, subsessile, broadly ovate,

blunt, cordate at the base.

Flower:-

1) Solitary in the axils of the middle leaves, pedicels at least twice as long as the

subtending leaves.

2) Calyx, 3·5-6 mm, divided to the base;

a) lobes, linear-lanceolate or subulate.

3) Corolla, rotate, 6-8·5 mm, yellow.

4) Style, deciduous.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, c. 3.5-4 mm, globose.

2) Seeds, triquetrous, rugose, blackish.

Key features:-

1) Leaves, 3-8 mm wide, subsessile.

2) Pedicels, at least twice as long as the subtending leaf.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Rocky limestone slopes in open woodland, dry open shrubby vegetation .

500-2300 m.

Distribution:- Endemic Crete, C. and S. Greece. On Crete confined mainly to the

four main massifs

Flowering time:- May-Aug.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton