Family |
Amaryllidaceae
Allium rupicola
Boiss. ex Mouterde
Allium rupicola Boiss. ex Mouterde
(in Nouv. Fl. Liban et de la Syrie 1: 273; 1966 – Pl. LXXXVI nº 4)
• Life-form & habit: Perennial bulbous geophyte, 10–25 cm tall, forming small tufts in limestone crevices. Bulb ovoid to subglobose, 1–1.5 cm in diameter, with thin, papery, greyish tunics, never fibrous or reticulate. Scape slender, subcylindrical, glabrous, usually solitary and flexible, arising directly from narrow rock fissures.
• Leaves: 2–3, narrowly linear, 2–3 mm wide, flat to slightly canaliculate, glabrous, grey-green or faintly glaucous, shorter than or equalling the scape.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Umbel few-flowered (5–15), loose or sub-hemispherical, with unequal pedicels. Spathe of two lanceolate valves, shorter than or equalling the umbel. Tepals whitish with a green or faint purplish midvein, narrowly elliptic, 5–6 mm long. Filaments subequal, slightly exserted; anthers yellow; ovary smooth, greenish.
• Fruit: Capsule small, 3–4 mm long, trigonous, containing black, reticulate seeds.
• Phenology: Flowers from May to July; fruits ripen by August.
• Habitat & elevation: Rocky limestone slopes and cliffs between 1 200 and 2 000 m, rooted in narrow fissures and dry screes; a characteristic rupicolous element of subalpine limestone habitats.
• Lebanese distribution: Recorded by Mouterde from Jabal Kneissé; also present on Mount Sannine, where it may grow in proximity to Allium sannineum but remains distinct in morphology and microhabitat preference.
• Native to: East Aegean Is., Lebanon, Syria, Türkiye (POWO).