Family |
Fabaceae
Astragalus kotschyanus
Boiss.
Leb. Syr.
Astragalus kotschyanus Boiss.
(Diagn. Pl. Orient. 2: 44, 1843; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 367; Pl. CXLVIII nº 1; 1966)
• Life-form & habit: Herbaceous perennial with diffuse, spreading to ascending stems, 30–40 cm or more.
• Leaves: Bearing 6–9 pairs of leaflets; lower ones ovate-oblong, upper more linear-elliptic. Stipules very short, fine, triangular.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Capitulate racemes on peduncles 2–3 times longer than the subtending leaves. Bracts linear, longer than the very short pedicels, reaching ¼–⅓ of the calyx tube. Calyx tubular, 3–5 mm, with appressed white and black hairs; teeth half as long as the tube. Corolla pink, markedly exceeding the calyx, slightly arched; standard much exceeding wings and keel.
• Fruit: Pods oblong, appressed-hispid, scarcely longer than the calyx, with a short, barely incurved mucro.
• Phenology: Flowers April–May.
• Habitat & elevation: Subarid terrains under Syrian-type climate.
• Lebanese distribution: Baalbeck, Hermon (Rachaya).
• Syrian distribution: Aleppo, Mouslimiyé, Abou Douhour, ‘Azaz, Ouadi-el-Qarn, Souq Ouadi Barada, Jdeidé, Saïdnaya, Ouadi Zemrani, Jerijir, Zebdani to Tékiyé, Haut Anti-Liban, Kefraya, Qala‘at Jendel, Damascus plain, Mayssaloun.
• Native range: Lebanon and Syria