THELIGONIUM CYNOCRAMBE

Family and Genus:- See- RUBIACEAE

Common Names:- Dog-cabbage, Theligonium.

Homotypic Synonyms:- Cynocrambe dioscoridis, Cynocrambe prostrata,

Theligonum alsinoideum, Theligonum dalmaticum, Theligonum parvum.

Meaning:- Theligonium (L) Girl-getter, a name used by the Roman naturalist and

philosopher Pliny and claimed by him to determine the conception of girl offspring.

Cynocrambe (Gr) Dog-cabbage (implying inferiority).

General description:- Subglabrous, prostrate to ascending annual, whole plant

somewhat succulent.

Stems:-

1) 5-20 cm, simple or usually branched from near the base, often suffused pink.

Leaves:-

1) Alternate, 8-20 mm, triangular-ovate.

a) lower, often opposite, simple, oval to orbicular, entire, a little fleshy, long

petiolate, glabrous, margins fringed with long hairs.

2) Stipules, membranous.

Flowers:-

1) Inconspicuous, 2-3 mm diam. unisexual, sessile in small axillary clusters,

greenish white.

2) Perianth, male flowers, membranous, with 2 or 3 narrow, recurved lobes.

3) Perianth female flowers, c. 1 mm, obliquely tubular.

4) Anthers, linear.

Fruit:-

1) Drupe, c. 2 mm in diam. subglobose, hard, pale brown, finely verrucose.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Seasonally damp, somewhat shady places in open shrubby vegetation,

scrubland vegetation and olive groves, rock ledges in gorges. 0-500(-1450) m.

Distribution:- Widespread throughout the Mediterranean region and SW Asia.

Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Feb-June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton