Family |
Boraginaceae
Alkanna strigosa
Boiss. & Hohen.
Leb. Syr. Pal. Sinai
Alkanna strigosa Boiss. & Hohen.
≡ Alkanna syriaca Boiss.
(Diagn. Pl. Orient. 4: 46, 1844; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 510; Pl. XLIII nº 4; 1983)
• Life-form & habit: Multicaulous perennial, 20–30 cm, with stems prostrate to ascending; indumentum variable — either very harsh and hispid with stiff spreading bristles, or softer with finer hairs; beneath the bristles a fine viscous pubescence.
• Leaves: Lower leaves linear, narrowed at the base; cauline leaves semi-amplexicaul, lanceolate, acute.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Cymes rather lax. Calyx with rigid spreading bristles, lobes narrowly linear-lanceolate. Corolla blue, glabrous, tube scarcely longer than calyx, limb broad.
• Fruit: Nutlets curved, strongly reticulate, not tuberculate.
• Phenology: Flowers March–June.
• Habitat & elevation: Stony ground.
• Lebanese distribution: Zahlé; between Saghbine and Hasbayya; Niha; Baalbeck; Nebi Chite.
• Syrian distribution: Abundant near Aleppo and northwards; also at Eriha, Hama, Rastan; Damascus (Doummar); Baalbeck region.
• Native range: Lebanon–Syria, Palestine, Sinai (POWO).