Family |
Lamiaceae
Ajuga orientalis
L.
Ajuga orientalis L.
(Sp. Pl.: 561; 1753 – Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCVII nº 2; 1969)
• Life-form & habit: Perennial herb, 10–30 cm tall, with a short rhizome and ascending to erect stems, usually simple or weakly branched. Stems quadrangular, pubescent with appressed or spreading hairs.
• Leaves: Basal leaves forming a small rosette, obovate to spatulate, 2–6 × 1–3 cm, coarsely crenate or dentate, petiolate; cauline leaves opposite, smaller, sessile or subsessile, ovate to lanceolate, margins entire or slightly toothed. Both surfaces softly pubescent, especially along veins.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Terminal spike-like inflorescence dense and many-flowered. Bracts ovate, often tinged purple, exceeding the calyx. Calyx tubular-campanulate, 4–5 mm long, with 5 subequal, triangular lobes. Corolla bilabiate, blue to violet (rarely pinkish), 10–15 mm long; upper lip short and bifid, lower lip trilobed with a large central lobe marked by darker veins. Stamens 4, exserted; filaments hairy below the anthers.
• Fruit: Nutlets obovoid, smooth and shiny, brownish, 1.5–2 mm long; persistent calyx enclosing the fruit.
• Phenology: Flowers from March to May; fruits mature from May to July.
• Habitat & elevation: Rocky slopes, forest margins, and grassy hillsides, often on limestone, from 500 to 2 000 m. Prefers semi-shaded to open habitats with moderate moisture.
• Lebanese distribution: Common in montane and submontane regions of Mount Lebanon — notably Barouk, Ain Zhalta, Dahr el-Baïdar, and Ehden; locally abundant in cedar and oak woodland clearings.
• Native to: Albania, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Greece, Iran, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon, Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Sicilia, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine (POWO).
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: A widespread Eastern Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian species closely allied to Ajuga genevensis L. and A. reptans L., but distinguished by its blue-violet corolla, dense inflorescence, and persistent purple-tinted bracts. In Lebanon, A. orientalis is the dominant Ajuga species in the montane zone, forming an important element of spring floral assemblages in open cedar and oak forests.