SAMOLUS VALERANDI

FFamily and Genus:- See- PRIMULACEAE

Common Names:- Brookweed

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Samolus A name used by the Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny,

or a Celtic druidic name, sal mos (pig food).

Valerandi (L) For Dourez Valerand, sixteenth-century botanist.

General description:- Low to short, hairless, creeping perennial.

Stems:-

1) 5-60 cm, leafy, erect, branched or unbranched.

Leaves:-

1) 10-90 x 5-25 mm, oval to cochleariform, margins entire, pale green,

a) basal, in a rosette

b) cauline, alternate.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, racemose, simple or branched.

2) Pedicels, becoming geniculate, after anthesis.

3) Calyx-teeth, obtuse.

4) Corolla, 2-3 mm Æ, cupuliform, white.

5) Petals, united to half way.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 2-3mm.

2) Seeds, with many faces, reddish-brown, tuberculate

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Reed-swamps, seepage areas, by springs and brooks. 0-900(-1500) m.

wides-pread, but rarely in abundance.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece, but rare in the interior north Widespread in

Europe and almost cosmopolitan. Fairly widespread on Crete.

Flowering time:- (Mar-)May-July, sometimes later.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton