Flora-Fauna

Convolvulus libanoticus Boiss.

(First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient. ser. 1, 12: 61 (1849); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2; 1969)

• Life-form & habit : Perennial chamaephyte forming low, compact cushions; stems short, prostrate to ascending, densely covered with silky to woolly hairs, giving a silvery-grey aspect.

• Leaves : Alternate, shortly petiolate; blades small, ovate to oblong (5–15 mm), entire, thickened; both surfaces densely sericeous, grey-silvery.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers solitary, axillary; peduncles very short; corolla funnel-shaped, pink to rose with a darker centre, relatively large compared to the plant size; sepals ovate, densely hairy.

• Fruit : Capsule ovoid, enclosed within the persistent calyx; seeds few, brown.

• Phenology : Flowers from May to July.

• Habitat & elevation : High-mountain rocky slopes, limestone ridges and windswept alpine habitats; 1800–2800 m.

• Lebanese distribution : High mountains of Mount Lebanon, including the Qurnat as Sawda massif and adjacent summits.

• Native range : Greece, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Türkiye.

• Diagnostic remarks : Alpine species forming dense silvery cushions; formerly treated as a Lebanese endemic but now included within a wider eastern Mediterranean distribution; distinguished by its compact habit and high-altitude ecology.