Family |
Acanthaceae
Acanthus syriacus
Boiss.
Acanthus syriacus Boiss.
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 272, Pl. CXXXVIII; 1973)
Life‑form & habit : Perennial, softly pubescent herb forming a loose clump 40 – 80 cm high; stem and flowering spike rise only slightly above the foliage.
Leaves : Basal leaves long, oblong‑lanceolate, briefly tapering into a petiole; pinnatipartite into lanceolate segments that are themselves lobed and spiny, the lobes merging at the base. Usually two shorter, sessile cauline leaves.
Inflorescence & bracts : Spike ovoid‑cylindrical, compact, often flushed purple when fresh. Bracts conspicuously large (4 – 6 cm or more), equalling or exceeding the flower, leathery, with raised reticulate nerves; margins ciliate; each side armed with 4 – 5 stout spines.
Calyx : Glabrous; upper lobe large, herbaceous, oblong‑spatulate, faintly toothed at the tip; lower lobe narrower, linear, widened and bifid at the apex, the tips spinulose.
Corolla : White, completely glabrous; single lip trilobed, erect, the lobes rounded.
Flowering period : March – May.
Habitat & elevation : Fields and rocky ground in coastal and other Mediterranean‑climate zones, at low to mid elevations.
Distribution : Eastern Mediterranean—Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Palestine.