Flora-Fauna

Achillea kotschyi Boiss.

(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 399, Pl. CCXVI nº 3; 1973)

• Life‑form & habit : Tufted perennial herb, 12 – 40 cm high; stems and foliage softly woolly‑pubescent, giving the plant a grey‑green aspect.

• Leaves : Basal leaves oblong‑ovate, 3 – 10 × 1 – 3 cm, bipinnatisect into linear‑lanceolate segments; petioles 1 – 4 cm. Lower cauline leaves smaller (2 – 3 × 1 – 1.5 cm), merely pinnatisect; uppermost leaves much reduced.

• Inflorescence : Dense, flat‑topped corymb of 50 – 150 (or more) capitula, 2 – 6 cm broad; individual peduncles 1 – 3 mm.

• Involucre & bracts : Heads obovoid to oblong, 3 – 3.5 × 2 – 2.5 mm. Bracts hairy, lanceolate to lanceolate‑oblong, acute to sub‑obtuse, edged by a narrow brownish scarious margin.

• Ligules & disc florets : 4 – 6 white ray florets surround 5 – 15 tubular disk florets.

• Flowering period : June – August.

• Habitat & elevation : Sub‑alpine grasslands and open rocky slopes.

• Native range : Southeastern Europe and Western Asia (Bulgaria, Anatolia, Lebanon). In Lebanon recorded from ‘Ain Saʿadé, Ehden, Cedars of Bcharré, Jabal Barouk, Jabal Kneissé, Jabal Sannine, Laqlouq and neighbouring high ridges.