Flora-Fauna

Acantholimon libanoticum Boiss.

(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. VI nº 3; 1973)

• Life‑form & habit : Spiny, glaucescent cushion‑shrub reaching up to 30 cm (or more) in height; old, withered leaves sheath the lower branchlets, while living leaves form a dense dome.

• Leaves : Triangular in cross‑section, rigid and sharply pointed, margins slightly scabrid; 1 – 3 cm long, glabrous, bluish‑green.

• Scape : Rather short; supports a tight cylindrical spike composed of 3–5 spikelets; rachis scabrous‑velvety and straight (not flexuous).

• Bracts : Nearly equal in length, prominently keeled with broad membranous margins; the outer bract ends in a longer mucronate cusp.

• Calyx : Tube slightly hispid and about as long as the white, very shallowly 5‑lobed limb; five reddish veins run to the limb’s edge.

• Corolla : Rose‑pink; flowers appear late in the season.

• Flowering period : Summer.

• Habitat & elevation : High‑mountain limestone slopes and ridges.

• Native range : Endemic to Lebanon; recorded from Jabal Barouk, the Cedars of ‘Ain Zehalta, Jabal Kneissé, Jabal Sannine, Mar Semaʿan, and neighbouring high crests of the Anti‑Lebanon and Mount Hermon ranges.