SIBTHORPIA EUROPAEA

Family and Genus:- See- PLANTAGINACEAE

Common Names:- Cornish moneywort

Homotypic Synonyms:- Sibthorpia pelia

Meaning:- Sibthorpii (L) For professor Humphrey Sibthorp (1713-97, of Oxford,

and his son John (1758-97), English botanist.

Europaea (L) European, from Europe.

General description:- A creeping, rooting perennial forming mats.

Stems:-

1) Up to 40 cm, slender, usually rather sparingly branched and far-creeping.

Leaves:-

1) 8-25 mm wide, reniform to orbicular, crenate, with 7-13 usually truncate

crenations, more or less pubescent with hairs less than 1 mm.

a) petiole, (3-)5-40(-120) mm.

Flowers:-

1) Solitary in leaf-axils;

a) pedicel, 1-5(-12) mm, straight.

2) Corolla, and calyx (4-)5-lobed; corolla, 1·5-2·5 mm diam., white or cream, more

or less tinged with pink, especially on the lower lobes;

a) lobes, slightly unequal.

3) Stamens, (3-)4-5, the number variable on a single plant.

Fruit:-

1) Seeds, 0·5 mm.

Key features:-

1) Pedicel, not more than 35 mm; shorter than subtending petiole.

2) Flowers, solitary in leaf-axils.

3) Corolla, less than 3 mm diam., white, cream or pinkish.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- On non-calcareous substrates in moist, shady valleys, spring-fed seeps

and on damp banks, especially by waterfalls. 300-850 m.

Distribution:- Mainly distributed in Atlantic Europe and the mountains of tropical

Africa. A rare plant in Crete, restricted to the area west and north-west of the Lefka

Ori, except for one population further east in Crete’s only peat bog in the mountains

between Kallikratis and Asi Gonia, south-west of Rethimno.

Flowering time:- Apr-July(-Aug). .

Photo by:- Fotis Samaritakis