Flora-Fauna

Delphinium coelesyriacum (Mouterde) Jabbour

(Global Fl. 4: 73, 2018; basionym: Consolida coelesyriaca Mouterde, Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 18; Pl. VII nº 2; 1966)

• Life-form & habit: Annual, 25–80 cm tall, glabrescent or finely puberulent; often pluricaulous, with one central stem taller than the lateral ones.
• Leaves: Basal and lower cauline leaves long-petiolate, palmatipartite, divided into linear-lanceolate lobes, subacute or obtuse, shortly mucronate; glabrous or with sparse pubescence. Floral leaves subsessile, dissected into fewer lobes, the lower exceeding the flowers, the upper equal to them.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers in elongated racemes, each borne on a very short pedicel (1–2 mm), subtended by a small bract and two bracteoles. Sepals violet-blue to purplish, 8–10 mm, attenuate, slightly clawed at base; dorsal sepal with a slightly curved, ascending spur. Petals 4; upper ones deeply trilobed, the lower pair long-unguiculate, with convex laminae densely bearded with white hairs.
• Fruit: Follicles glabrous or minutely pubescent, slightly arched, with conspicuous anastomosing nerves, long-apiculate, closely appressed to the rachis .
• Phenology: Flowers May–June.
• Habitat & elevation: Fields, fallow lands, and disturbed sites.
• Lebanese distribution: Rayak, Zahlé, Baalbeck, Chlifa, Boudai, Yaat.
• Syrian distribution: Baalbeck plain, Latakia, Massiaf, Bdama, Slenfé .
• Native range: Endemic to Lebanon and western Syria (Coelesyria sensu Boissier).

⚠️ Taxonomic note: Originally described by Mouterde as Consolida coelesyriaca in 1966, this species was transferred to Delphinium by Jabbour (2018) in line with recent phylogenetic revisions of Ranunculaceae.