Family |
Apiaceae
Bupleurum odontites
L.
Bupleurum odontites L.
(First published in Sp. Pl. 237; 1753. Treated in Nouv. Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 634, Pl. CCXCIV nº 3; 1966)
Description
Life-form & habit: Erect annual herb 30–50 cm tall, with a rigid, cylindrical, much-branched stem.
Leaves: Linear, acuminate, 5-nerved, the lower sessile, upper cauline shorter and narrower.
Inflorescence & flowers: Umbels with (4)5(6) unequal rays; involucre of five linear, acute, 3-nerved bracts 1 cm or longer; involucel bracts narrower, translucent; pedicels unequal, longer than ovary; petals ovate, bilobed at apex.
Fruit: Ovoid, smooth, slightly compressed; mericarps with faint ribs.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Flowers March – May.
Habitat & elevation: Field margins and disturbed ground in open cultivated zones.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Coastal and low-mountain regions — Tyre (3 km N), Beirut, Antélias, Tripoli, ʿAraya, Choueir, ʿAsfouriyé, Qrayé, Jamhour, Mtaïleb, Bikfaya, Chemlan, Beqaa (Mt, P).
Native to: Albania, Algeria, Bulgaria, East Aegean Islands, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, NW. Balkan Peninsula, Palestine, Sardegna, Sicilia, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe.
Extinct in: Cyprus.
Introduced into: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Krym, Maryland, Massachusetts, Netherlands, Oregon, Spain, Sweden, Virginia (POWO).
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
Boissier and earlier authors confused this species with B. fontanesii Guss. Mouterde clarified the distinction based on the unequal umbel rays and persistent linear bracts of B. odontites L., a Mediterranean annual widely distributed around the Levant and North Africa.