SPECIES DESCRIPTION
TORILIS LEPTOPHYLLA
Family and Genus:- See- UMBELLIFERAE
Common Names:- Bristle-fruited hedge-parsley
Homotypic Synonyms:- Caucalis leptophylla
Meaning:- Torilis. A meaningless name used by the French naturalist
Michel Adanson.
Leptophylla (Gr) Fine or slender-leaved.
General description:- Erect annual up to 40 cm, sometimes branched.
Stems:-
1) 10-40 cm tall
Leaves:-
1) 2- or 3-pinnatisect into small, lanceolate ultimate segments.
Flowers:-
1) Umbels, mostly leaf-opposed;
a) peduncles, 2-3(-5) cm.
2) Rays, 2 or 3, diverging.
3) Petals, minute, white or pinkish.
4) Bracts, absent or one.
a) secondary bracts usually numerous, small.
5) Stigmas, sessile on the conical stylopodium.
Fruit:-
1) 5-6 mm, narrowly oblong;
a) primary ridges, with short, stiff, appressed hairs.
b) secondary ridges, with long, spreading, glochidiate spines, somewhat
confluent at the base.
Key features:-
1) Petals, minute, white or pinkish.
2) Rays, 2 or 3, diverging.
Habitat:- Gravelly coastal habitats, dry open shrubby vegetation, mixed scrub, field
margins, open woodland, olive groves. 0-1300 m.
Distribution:- Common throughout Greece. - W Europe and the Mediterranean area
throughout Anatolia, Widespread in SW to C Asia. Fairly widespread on Crete.
Flowering time:- Apr-July.
Photos by:- Steve Lenton
