Flora-Fauna

Allium beitchlelaense Maalouf & Balos

(Ann. Bot. Fennici 62: 215–221, 2025)

• Life-form & habit: Bulbous perennial. Bulb ovoid, 10–15 × 7–10 mm, with dimorphic bulblets; internal fusiform-lanceolate, pale creamy-yellow with a lobed basal disc, external ovoid to elliptic, dark reddish-brown to blackish. Outer tunic reddish-brown, papery; inner tunic creamy-white, membranous. Scape 14–37 cm, cylindrical, glabrous, green, sometimes reddish at base, sheathed for 3/5–2/3 of its length.

• Leaves: 1–2, linear, subcylindrical to shallowly canaliculate, solid, 8–20 × 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous, usually shorter than scape, withering from tip by anthesis.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Umbel lax, hemispherical, 2–5 cm across, 12–40-flowered. Pedicels brownish to brownish-green, 10–20 mm in flower, up to 30 mm in fruit. Spathe of 2 unequal, narrowly lanceolate valves, longer 6–9 × 0.4–0.6 cm, shorter 3–4 × 0.3–0.4 cm, both 7–12-veined. Perigone narrowly campanulate, ±7 × 3 mm; tepals subequal, narrowly lanceolate, 6.5–7.5 × 1.5–2 mm, pale straw to creamy, brownish with a distinct brown mid-vein.

• Stamens: Included; filaments filiform, off-white, 5–6 mm, with minute interstaminal teeth on a low annulus; anthers oblong, yellow-cream, ca. 1 mm.

• Ovary: Yellow, narrowly ovoid, sessile, 3 × 1.5 mm, with six grooves; surface slightly roughened to reticulate, upper half vesicular-tuberculate; style filiform, 4–5 mm, not exceeding tepals. Capsule ovoid, ca. 4 × 3 mm, valves ovoid, emarginate. Seeds black, irregularly angled, ca. 2 × 1.5 mm, with foveolate to rugose testa.

• Phenology: Flowering in early June; fruiting from late June to July.

• Habitat & elevation: Rocky east-facing limestone outcrops above the Jaouz River valley, 650–750 m a.s.l. Associated with Pistacia terebinthus subsp. palaestina, Teucrium stachyophyllum, Rhamnus punctata, Hypericum thymifolium, Ballota saxatilis.

• Lebanese distribution: North Lebanon Governorate, between Kfarhelda and Beit Chlela.

• Native range: Endemic to Mount Lebanon