Family |
Boraginaceae
Anchusa strigosa
Banks & Sol.
Anchusa strigosa Banks & Sol.
(Nat. Hist. Aleppo, ed. 2. 2: 246, 1794; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 403; Pl. XL nº 2; 1983)
• Life-form & habit: Robust perennial, branched from the base, often forming large tufts, covered with hispid bristles that are whitish, stiff, and appressed-patent.
• Leaves: Lower leaves oblanceolate, obtuse, attenuate at base, up to 30 cm long; cauline leaves sessile, narrowly lanceolate, acute, amplexicaul at the base, indumentum harshly hispid.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Cymes many-flowered, dense. Calyx lobes lanceolate, elongate in fruit. Corolla intense blue, 12–15 mm long, broadly campanulate, limb lobes rounded; throat scales prominent, yellowish, triangular.
• Fruit: Nutlets ovoid-trigonous, rugose-reticulate, pale brown to grey, c. 4 mm long.
• Phenology: Flowers March–June.
• Habitat & elevation: Roadsides, fallows, rocky places, extending into montane zones.
• Lebanese distribution: Frequent from the coast to 1,200 m — Beirut, Antélias, Baabda, Sofar, Baalbeck, Bcharré, Ehden, Hasroun, Jabal Kneissé, Rachaya, Hasbaya.
• Syrian distribution: Common around Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Palmyra, and the Anti-Lebanon; also recorded in the desert fringes.
• Native range: Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon–Syria, Palestine, Turkey (POWO).
• Introduced into: Germany (POWO).