Flora-Fauna

Delphinium fissum Waldst. & Kit. subsp. ithaburense (Boiss.) C.Blanché & Molero

(First published in Candollea 38: 716 (1983); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. X nº 2–3; 1969, as Delphinium ithaburense Boiss.; syn. D. salmoneum Mouterde)

• Life-form & habit : Perennial tuberous geophyte; plant erect, 30–80 cm tall or more; stems angular, simple or little-branched, either glabrous or glandular-pubescent; roots thick and woody.

• Leaves : Leaves glabrous, palmatisect, the lower ones long-petiolate; segments numerous and narrow, the basal divisions less fine, the upper ones filiform and often somewhat convolute.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Inflorescence lax, with peduncles of variable length, accrescent after anthesis and without a regular pair of bracteoles; sepals whitish, tinged bluish or violet, with a darker median band, very obtuse, glabrous or pubescent on the median band; spur slightly arched-ascending, c. 2 cm long, acute, brown to blackish-brown; median petals yellowish, narrow and not bifid; lateral petals whitish-yellow, shortly clawed, ovate-convex, deeply bifid and densely long-bearded.

• Fruit : Follicles cylindrical, long-apiculate, either glabrous or glandular-pubescent.

• Phenology : Flowers in summer.

• Habitat & elevation : Rocky places, especially wooded rocky habitats.

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded from Hasroun, Hadeth, the Cedars of Tannourine, Kafr Hail above Tripoli, and Baalbeck.

• Native range : Lebanon-Syria, Palestine.

• Diagnostic remarks : Treated by Mouterde as Delphinium ithaburense, with D. salmoneum reduced to a variety. The taxon is distinguished by its pale whitish-blue to violet-tinged flowers, dark brown to blackish spur, narrow palmatisect leaves, and cylindrical long-apiculate follicles. Mouterde’s var. salmoneum represents smaller plants with reduced flowers and shorter spurs.