Family |
Iridaceae
Crocus damascenus
Herb.
Leb. Syr. Tur.
Crocus damascenus Herb.
(Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 31 (Misc.): 1; 1845 – Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, Pl. XCIX nº 1; 1966)
• Life-form & habit: Cormous perennial geophyte, 8–15 cm tall. Corm subglobose to ovoid, 1.5–2.5 cm in diameter, enveloped in several tunics that are fibrous to membranous; outer tunics brownish, sometimes slightly reticulate or faintly parallel-fibrous.
• Leaves: 3–6, appearing with or shortly after the flowers, linear, 2–3 mm wide, with a distinct white median stripe, glabrous, and slightly channelled above; margins scabrid in some forms.
• Inflorescence & flowers: One to several flowers per corm, appearing in autumn or early winter (October–December) before the leaves are fully developed. Perianth funnel-shaped, white to pale lilac with a yellow throat; outer tepals occasionally faintly veined. Throat glabrous or with sparse hairs. Perianth segments oblanceolate, 20–40 mm long. Filaments white, glabrous or slightly papillose; anthers yellow; style orange to reddish, dividing into three long, slender branches often exceeding the anthers.
• Fruit: Capsule oblong, 1–1.5 cm long, enclosed within the leaf bases during development; seeds small, reddish-brown, with a conspicuous white aril.
• Phenology: Flowers in autumn (October–December); leaves persist through winter, and fruits mature in spring (March–April).
• Habitat & elevation: Dry open slopes, stony fields, and rocky limestone hillsides, from 600 to 1 600 m; prefers well-drained calcareous soils, often in steppe and oak scrub habitats.
• Lebanese distribution: Recorded by Mouterde from central and northern Mount Lebanon — particularly between Zahlé, Dahr el-Baïdar, Barouk, and Bcharré; also found in the Anti-Lebanon and Beqaa Valley.
• Native range: Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Türkiye (POWO).
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: Crocus damascenus is identified by its sub-globular (round) corm, enveloped in a thick tunic where all layers are uniformly coarse, fibrous, and woody. In contrast, C. cancellatus has a more elongated ovoid (egg-shaped) or piriform (pear-shaped) corm, and its tunic is layered, with only the outer coats fibrous and woody, revealing smoother, papery inner layers beneath. The shape of the corm and the structure of its tunic are the definitive diagnostic features, as floral characters are too variable to reliably distinguish between the two taxa.