Flora-Fauna

Centaurea drabifolia Sibth. & Sm. subsp. libanotica (Boiss.) Wagenitz

(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. CCLXXX nº 2a–b; 1983)

• Life-form & habit: Densely tufted, suffruticose perennial from a hardened rhizome. Plant canescent-arachnoid to glabrescent, nearly stemless or shortly caulescent, rarely exceeding 20 cm tall.

• Leaves: Basal leaves linear, slightly petiolate, quickly withering, entire or variably pinnatilobed.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Solitary terminal capitula, 2.5 cm long (including flowers), 6–9 mm wide.

• Bracts: Tomentose to nearly glabrous; apical appendage palmate, with a central spine as long as the bract body and 1–3 pairs of shorter lateral spines. Lower bracts often with a reflexed central spine.

• Phenology: Flowers from June to August.

• Habitat & elevation: Rocky outcrops at high elevation.

• Lebanese distribution:
  Mm.: Jabal Kneissé, Hasroun, between Dimane and Yammouné
  Me.: Jabal Sannine, Qala‘at ‘Arrouba, Col des Cèdres, Makmel summit, above the Cedars
  Herm.: Summit of Mount Hermon

• Syrian distribution:
  A.L.: Anti-Lebanon (Draj, Tala‘at Moussa, Jabal Halimé)

• Native range: Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, Hermon. (KEW, GBIF)