SPECIES DESCRIPTION
THYMELAEA TARTONRAIRA subsp. ARGENTEA
Family and Genus:- See- THYMELAEACEAE
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- Thymelaea argentea, Daphne tartonraira.
Meaning:- Thymelaea (Gr) Thyme-olive (reference to the leaves and fruit).
Tartonraira Meaning not known
Argentea (L) Silvery, silvered.
General description:- Evergreen, much-branched, bushy shrublet
Stems:-
1) 20-50 cm, with erect, spreading or decumbent branches.
2) Lower branches, with tuberculate scars;
3) Young shoots, densely leafy, subglabrous or sericeous.
Leaves:-
1) 7-15 x 1.5-4 mm, spreading, oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, obtuse, ± silvery-
sericeous on both sides.
Flowers:-
1) Sessile in axillary clusters of 2-5, often crowded along the branches.
2) Bracts, numerous, small, imbricate, sericeous.
3) Perianth tube, c. 4 mm, narrowly funnel-shaped, sericeous;
a) lobes, c. 2 mm, ovate, pale dull yellow.
4) Hypanthium, 5-6 mm, sericeous or pubescent.
5) Sepals, 2 mm, broadly triangular, subacute.
6) Anthers, orange.
Fruit:-
1) Glabrous, c. 4 mm, oblong-ellipsoid.
Key features:-
1) Leaves, spreading, oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, obtuse, ± silvery-sericeous
on both sides.
2) Flowers, in clusters of 2-5.
3) Fruit, glabrous.
Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation and open woodland on dry, rocky hillslopes.
0-600(-1050) m.
Distribution:- Aegean region and south-western Asia. Restricted to the western
half of Crete, with one location recorded from near Kritsa.
Flowering time:- Feb-May.
Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis
