Flora-Fauna

Carlina curetum subsp. orientalis Meusel & Kästner

(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. CCLXXXIX nº 2; 1983)

• Life-form & habit: Perennial, 30–45 cm tall; stems erect, branched into corymbs, often reddish and leafless at maturity.

• Leaves: Coriaceous, oblong-lanceolate, pinnatifid to pinnatisect, with very spiny lobes; amplexicaul-auriculate at base.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Capitula of medium size, hemispheric to funnel-shaped.

• Bracts:
  Outer bracts 4–5 cm wide, 2–3× longer than the height of the capitulum, pinnatisect with very narrow, spinose lobes.
  Inner bracts ensiform, yellow, radiating.

• Phenology: Flowers from June to September.

• Habitat & elevation: Rocky or open hillsides in Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean environments.

• Lebanese distribution:
  Coastal (Ct.): Beirut, Ras Beyrouth, between Hamat and the Crusader Castle.
  Mountains (Mi.): Souq el Gharb, below Beit Méri, Bikfaya, Brummana.
  Beqaa (Met.): Ta‘naïl.

• Syrian distribution:
  Anti-Lebanon (A.L.): Between Madaya and Oureiré.
  Southern (Sud.): Quneitra.

• Native range: Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine)