Family |
Polygonaceae
Atraphaxis billardieri
Jaub. & Spach
Atraphaxis billardieri Jaub. & Spach
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, Pl. CXXXV nº 1; 1966)
Life-form & habit: Glabrous, much-branched shrub, spiny or sometimes unarmed.
Leaves: Short, reticulate, ovate to oblong, obtuse or acute; ochreae short, bicuspidate.
Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers most often pentamerous, occasionally with some tetramerous ones (var. heterantha Boiss.). External sepals deflexed; internal sepals (usually 3, rarely 2) accrescent, cordate-reniform.
Fruit: Triangular achenes. Style bifid, rarely trifid.
Phenology: Flowers from May to July.
Habitat & elevation: Primarily montane regions.
Lebanese distribution: Mi. East of Douma; Mm. Jourd Tannourine, Hasroun, Cedars, Jabal Barouk; Me. Jabal Sannine; Ve. above Aïnata, Jabal ech-Cha‘ra above Zahlé; A.L. Ouadi-el-Harir; Herm. Hermon.
Syrian distribution: A.L. Jabal Gharbi, Qornet Mass‘adé, Ouadi-el-Qarn; Herm. Southern Hermon, around ‘Arné.
Native range: Crete, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran