Family |
Boraginaceae
Cynoglossum cedrorum
Sutorý
Leb. Syr.
Cynoglossum cedrorum Sutorý
Acta Musei Moraviae, Scientiae biologicae 110(1–2): 20; 2025
Description
Life-form & habit: Biennial herb, often branched, with ascending to erect stems up to c. 60 cm tall, sometimes with several stems from the base. Plant densely clothed with relatively stiff, patent hairs, giving it a greyish-green appearance.
Leaves: Sterile rosettes with oval, acute leaves; lower leaves petiolate, oblong; upper cauline leaves sessile, lanceolate and acute. Indumentum composed of stiff, patent trichomes, especially evident on the stems and leaves.
Inflorescence & flowers: Inflorescence formed of 3–5(–10) branches of helicoid cymes, the lower branches sometimes with single bracteoles. Flowers small, pinkish to reddish in the Lebanese plants observed. Calyx segments narrowly oblong, obtuse, enlarging in fruit. Corolla c. 5 mm long.
Fruit: Nutlets widely ovate, c. 5.4–7.1 mm long, with unevenly dispersed conical glochidia on the abaxial surface, 0.5–0.6 mm long, and small intermixed protuberances. Style c. 4 mm long in fruit.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Flowering mainly from spring to early summer; fruiting later in the season.
Habitat & elevation: Montane limestone slopes, rocky places, subalpine pastures, and open areas near cedar forests, usually around 1,000–1,850 m a.s.l., locally associated with the distribution zone of Cedrus libani.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Recorded from Mount Lebanon, including Bsharri/Cedars, Sannine, Barouk, Ehden, Afqa, Ain Zhalta, Sir el Danniyeh and related montane localities. Sutorý specifically cites material from Sannine under C. cedrorum.
Native to: Lebanon and Syria. Endemic to the Levantine mountain ranges.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
This plant was historically treated in the Lebanese botanical literature as Cynoglossum nebrodense Guss., notably by Mouterde in Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie. Mouterde followed the interpretation of earlier authors such as Boissier and rejected Brand’s placement of the Lebanese plant under C. montanum subsp. extraeuropaeum var. asiaticum. He argued that the Lebanese material showed no real resemblance to European C. montanum and instead agreed closely with authentic Sicilian material of C. nebrodense, while noting a possible difference in the fruiting pedicels.
Recent taxonomic work has revised this interpretation. Sutorý concluded that true C. nebrodense is not present in the Middle East and that the Levantine material formerly placed under C. nebrodense or C. montanum represents distinct endemic taxa. The Sannine and Mount Lebanon material corresponds to Cynoglossum cedrorum Sutorý, a species described from Lebanon and distributed in Lebanon and Syria.
Therefore, the plant is here treated as Cynoglossum cedrorum Sutorý, replacing the previous name Cynoglossum nebrodense sensu Mouterde, which is now best understood as a historical misapplication to the Lebanese material.