Flora-Fauna

Daphne libanotica Mouterde

(First published in Publ. Techn. Sci. École Française Ingén. Beyrouth 13: 36 (1947); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCXLIX nº 1; 1970; reference: https://www.florafauna.life/flora-lebanon/daphne-pontica)

• Life-form & habit : Bushy evergreen subshrub, 30–60 cm tall; upper branches leafy, reddish-brown and very glabrous.

• Leaves : Persistent, subcoriaceous, subsessile, obovate-lanceolate, 5–9 × 1–2 cm, cuneate at base; both surfaces very glabrous, upper surface green, lower surface distinctly paler.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Floral peduncles axillary, simple, puberulent, 1–3 cm long, bearing at the base short ovate-orbicular bracts 2–4 mm long; flowers 5–10 at the apex of the peduncle, shortly pedicellate, pale yellowish-white, puberulent on both surfaces; perianth tube cylindrical; lobes linear, acute, 2–4 mm, about half as long as the tube.

• Fruit : Berry ovate, 6–8 mm, black at maturity.

• Phenology : Flowers in June–July according to Mouterde; recent Lebanese populations have been observed flowering later, around August. Fruit in October–November.

• Habitat & elevation : Degraded woodland and humid, shaded valley habitats in the lower to middle mountain belt.

• Lebanese distribution : Originally recorded between Dlepta and Mohrab, and between Aramoun and Chahtoul; rediscovered in Wadi Nahr el-Assi in 2014, Wadi Jhannam in 2020, and Kfertay, Keserwan, in 2023.

• Native range : Lebanon.

• Diagnostic remarks : Currently treated by POWO, GBIF and WFO as a synonym of Daphne pontica, but Lebanese plants match Mouterde’s D. libanotica and differ from typical D. pontica by their lower subshrubby habit, reddish upper stems, narrower obovate-lanceolate leaves with a paler underside, puberulent flowers and peduncles, pale yellowish-white flowers, and later flowering and fruiting. Further molecular comparison with D. pontica is needed to resolve its rank.