Flora-Fauna

Arenaria libanotica Kotschy

(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, Pl. CLX nº 4; 1966)

• Life-form & habit: Low-growing, cushion-forming perennial with villous-glandular stems; not woody at base.

• Leaves: Linear, 2–5 mm long, pubescent to glabrescent or glabrous (in the adonidis form), obtuse; basal leaves often very short and close together, upper leaves more developed and spaced.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers solitary, axillary and terminal, often diverging at right angles; inflorescence simple or branched. Calyx oval, obtuse, pubescent-glandular or glabrous, with inner sepals broadly white-margined.

• Petals: Obovate, longer than the sepals.

• Fruit: Subglobular capsule barely exceeding or equal to the calyx.

• Phenology: Flowers from June to August.

• Habitat & elevation: Rocky slopes and dolines.

• Lebanese distribution: Mi. Qrayé; Mm. Hasroun, Les Cèdres, Bcharré–Cedars, ‘Aqoura, Grotte d’Afqa, Neba‘ el-Hadid, Jabal Sannine; Me. Foum el-Mizhab, Yammouné to Dimane.

• Native range: Lebanon (to Mt. Hermon) (KEW, GBIF)