Flora-Fauna

Cousinia dayi Post

(Pl. Post. 2: 13, 1891; = C. hermonis Boiss.; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 451; Pl. CCLVIII nº 1–2; 1966)

• Life-form & habit: Biennial or perennial, 20–80 cm tall, woolly- or arachnoid-tomentose to glabrescent, with a scaly rootstock. Stems branched from the base.
• Leaves: Radical leaves dense, lanceolate, pinnatifid to pinnatisect into numerous segments ending in a long yellow spine. Cauline leaves oblong, recurved, long-spinescent, more or less decurrent at the base.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Terminal capitula, subpedunculate, at least 2 cm across excluding spines. Involucral bracts ovate at base, produced into a long paleaceous flat spine, glabrous inside, reflexed or erect. Florets purple.
• Fruit: Achenes striate, somewhat compressed.
• Phenology: Flowers June–August.
• Habitat & elevation: Rocky terrains.
• Lebanese distribution: Between ‘Aïnata and Deir el-Ahmar; Baalbeck–‘Ain Bourdaï; Ras Baalbeck; Jabal Hermon.
• Syrian distribution: S. Syria (Pinard), Assal-el-Ouad, Bloudane, Ma‘loula, Yabroud, north of Bloudane, Birkhet Foukhté, Tala‘at Moussa, NW Tell Qtaifé, Madaya, eastern slopes of Jabal Halimé, ‘Arné.
• Native range: Lebanon, Syria, Palestine (POWO).

⚠️ Taxonomic note: Treated by Mouterde under Cousinia hermonis Boiss., but considered distinct as C. dayi by Post and later accepted in POWO.