Flora-Fauna

Convolvulus dorycnium subsp. oxysepalus (Boiss.) Rech.f.

(Oesterr. Bot. Z. 94: 170, 1948; = Convolvulus dorycnium var. oxysepalus Boiss.; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 35; Pl. XIX nº 2; 1966)

• Life-form & habit: Perennial, forming hemispherical tufts 30–80 cm tall, with numerous rigid, indurated, glabrous stems and branchlets.
• Leaves: Sessile; lower ones villous, obtuse, oblong-spatulate with marked venation beneath; cauline and floral leaves very reduced, narrowly linear, acute.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers solitary or in cymes of 2–3, borne on rigid peduncles. Bracteoles minute; pedicels very short. Sepals silky, appressed, obovate-rounded, obtuse or retuse, shortly mucronate. Corolla bright pink, pubescent along the folds, c. 2 cm across, much longer than the calyx.
• Fruit: Capsule small, with smooth seeds.
• Phenology: Flowers April–July.
• Habitat & elevation: Rocky slopes, wooded or open.
• Lebanese distribution: Tombeau d’Hiram near Tyre, Tripoli–Qalmoun, Bsarma, Qala‘at ech-Chekif, ‘Ammiq forest, Ferzol, Zahlé, Ksara, Zahlé–Baalbeck, Ouadi-el-Harir, Ghara de Baalbeck.
• Syrian distribution: Baalbeck, sources of the Orontes, Hermon (Jib-Jenin), south of Aleppo, Saraqeb, Tartous, Kessab, Chahba.
• Native range: Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Iran.

⚠️ Diagnostic note: This subspecies differs from typical C. dorycnium by its narrower sepals, tapered into a longer mucro, and is considered the only form occurring in the Middle East.