Family |
Asteraceae
Cirsium creticum subsp. gaillardotii
(Boiss.) P.H.Davis & Parris
Leb. Syr. Tur. Pal.
Cirsium creticum (Lam.) d’Urv. subsp. gaillardotii (Boiss.) Davis & Parris
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. CCLXV nº 1; 1983)
Life-form & habit: Slender perennial with leafy stems, 20–60 cm tall; stems narrowly winged with short spines between the nodes.
Leaves: Lanceolate, subentire to finely denticulate, prickly and decurrent, finely tuberculate above, white-aranose beneath.
Inflorescence & flowers: Capitula small, ovoid, shortly pedunculate, sparsely aranose; each plant bears 1–3 heads.
Bracts: Involucral bracts increasing in length upward, oblong, obtuse, the uppermost with a scarious terminal appendage.
Corolla: Purple; limb and tube of equal length; filaments glabrous.
Phenology: Flowers in summer.
Habitat & elevation: Humid locations, including stream margins and moist woodland clearings.
Lebanese distribution: Mi. Jebaa, Moukhtara, Nahr Safa, Deir-el-Qamar, forest road to Qamou‘a.
Syrian distribution: Sud. Banias, springs of the Jordan.
Native range: Balkans, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine