Family |
Primulaceae
Androsace villosa
L.
Androsace villosa L.
(First published in Sp. Pl.: 142 (1753), Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. III nº 6; 1984)
• Life-form & habit: Dwarf perennial chamaephyte forming dense cushions 2 – 5 cm tall; stems filiform, prostrate to ascending. Whole plant covered in dense, long, white hairs, giving a woolly aspect.
• Leaves: Arranged in closed or open rosettes; blades oblong to linear-lanceolate, very small, densely villous with spreading hairs.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Scapes short, villous, equaling or slightly surpassing the pauciflorous umbel at anthesis. Pedicels very short; involucral bracts slightly shorter than the hairy calyx. Corolla white, lobes subovate, spreading.
• Fruit: Capsule typical of the genus, few-seeded, splitting into valves nearly to the base.
• Phenology: Summer flowering.
• Habitat & elevation: High-mountain rocky slopes and outcrops around 3 000 m.
• Lebanese distribution: Documented above Ehden, Mt. Makmel (including Qornet es-Saouda and Col des Cèdres), Rijal el-‘Achara, Dahr el-Kodib.
• Native range: Afghanistan, Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, France, Greece, Iran, Italy, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Mongolia, Morocco, North Caucasus, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Peninsula, Pakistan, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Turkey, Ukraine, West Himalaya (POWO).
• Conservation notes: In Lebanon, restricted to the highest summits (notably Qornet es-Saouda and Makmel) where grazing and trampling pose localized threats. Climate change represents an additional risk to its alpine niche.