Family |
Caryophyllaceae
Agrostemma githago
L.
Agrostemma githago L.
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 481, Pl. CLXIV nº 1; 1966)
Life‑form & habit : Tall annual (30 cm – 1 m) with erect, rather stout, grey‑hairy stems that are usually dichotomously branched.
Leaves : Broadly linear‑lanceolate, sessile, acute and green, clothed in spreading hairs; blades 5 – 15 cm long.
Calyx : Long‑pedicelled, densely velvety; tube ± 2 cm, with ten conspicuous ribs and constricted just below the five erect green teeth. Each tooth 2 – 2.5 cm and shaggy‑villous, greatly exceeding the corolla.
Corolla : Five purple petals; limb entire and only half as long as the calyx teeth.
Fruit : Indurated, many‑seeded, unilocular capsule that protrudes slightly beyond the calyx tube; seeds black, reniform, c. 3 mm in diameter.
Flowering period : April – May (extending to July at higher altitudes).
Habitat : Typical weed of cereal fields and other disturbed, well‑drained soils (“segetal”).
Native range : Sub‑cosmopolitan; in Lebanon from the coastal plain (Beirut, Maʿmeltein, south of Tripoli) through mid‑mountain localities (Afqa, Terbol) to the cedar zone (Ehden, Hasroun, Sir‑ed‑Dinné) and Jabal Sannine; also scattered across Syria from Latakia and the Anti‑Lebanon to the Damascus basin.