Family |
Boraginaceae
Alkanna prasinophylla
Rech.f.
Endemic to Lebanon
Alkanna prasinophylla Rech.f.
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 91; 1983. First published in Arkiv för Botanik, ser. 1, 1: 315, 1950)
• Life-form & habit: Erect, fistulose stems, pale brown, branched below the middle into opposite, flexuous, floriferous branches, up to 20 cm tall. Indumentum of spreading rigid bristles and shorter glandular hairs.
• Leaves: Thin, membranous, light green, covered with rigid bristles (1–2 mm) and shorter hairs, some glandular. Lower leaves withered at anthesis; middle cauline leaves amplexicaul-cordate at base, up to 8 × 3 cm, widest near or below mid-blade; margin slightly denticulate; venation delicate, scarcely visible. Upper leaves grading into ovate-lanceolate bracts much exceeding the calyces.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Inflorescence lax. Corolla fairly large, blue or reddish. Fruiting calyx about 12 mm, lobes long-acuminate.
• Fruit: Nutlets blackish, c. 2.5 mm diameter, recurved, with dense vermiculate granulation, obtuse beak.
• Phenology: Flowers May–June.
• Habitat & elevation: Calcareous rocks, subalpine zone.
• Lebanese distribution: Endemic; confined to the central Mount Lebanon range between Afqa, Qartaba, Hadeth-el-Joubé (type locality), Ehden, and Berqacha.
• Syrian distribution: Not recorded by Mouterde.
• Native range: Endemic to Mount Lebanon.