Family |
Campanulaceae
Campanula strigosa
Banks & Sol.
Campanula strigosa Banks & Sol.
First published in Natural History of Aleppo, ed. 2, 2: 246 (1794)
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. CLXXXIX nº 3; 1983)
• Life-form & habit: Perennial herb, 20–50 cm tall, densely clothed with bristly hairs thickened at the base. Stems erect, much branched from below, forming loose tufts.
• Leaves: Sessile, entire; lower leaves oblong, upper ones oblong-lanceolate, acute, becoming progressively smaller upwards.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers terminal and at the dichotomies of the branches, shortly pedunculate. Calyx lobes lanceolate at the base, prolonged into long subulate tips; appendages very short and obtuse. Corolla pale violet, campanulate, glabrous at maturity though faintly puberulent when young, about twice the length of the calyx. Capsule nodding, concealed by the accrescent calyx lobes.
• Fruit: Capsule pendent, enclosed by enlarged calyx lobes, containing numerous minute seeds.
• Phenology: Flowers April – June.
• Habitat & elevation: Fields, open woodlands, and grassy slopes; from coastal plains to middle-mountain zones.
• Lebanese distribution: Recorded by Mouterde from Tyr, Saïda, Hallalié, Nahr Damour, Beirut, Hazmiyé, Nahr el-Kelb, Tripoli, ʿAsfouriyé, Ghazir, Tourzaya, Ehden, Bazoun, Hasroun, Bcharré, Blaouza, Şarada, Jisr el-Khardali, Kfar Tibnit, Zahlé, Soghmour, Rayak, Mejdel ʿAnjar, Rachaya, Qoubbayat, Baalbeck, and Ouadi el-ʿArayech.
• Native range: Iran, Lebanon–Syria, Palestine, Türkiye.
• Introduced into: Germany (POWO).
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: Closely allied to C. hierosolymitana Boiss., from which it differs by its glabrous corolla, presence of isolated flowers at the branch dichotomies, and calyx lobes abruptly continued into long subulate awns.