Family |
Caryophyllaceae
Dianthus karami
(Boiss.) Mouterde
Endemic to Lebanon
Dianthus karami (Boiss.) Mouterde
(First published in Bull. Soc. Bot. France 104: 511 (1958); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, Pl. CLXXXVI nº 5; 1966)
• Life-form & habit : Perennial cespitose chamaephyte, suffrutescent at base, 10–60 cm tall; stems glabrous or finely puberulent, variable in size according to grazing pressure.
• Leaves : Opposite, narrow, acute, 3-nerved; margins ciliate-scabrid; blade glabrous or pubescent.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers solitary or more often fascicled by 2–3 at the tips of the branches, involucrate by the last pair of leaves; epicalyx scales 4–6, rarely 2 or 8, ovate to oblong, with brown scarious margins and a strongly striate herbaceous median part, prolonged into a cusp at least 2–3 mm long; calyx 15–20 mm long, glabrous, green or purplish especially toward the apex, with acute entire teeth; petals with included claw and a pink oblong-cuneiform blade, irregularly denticulate and sometimes slightly papillose.
• Fruit : Capsule typical of Dianthus, enclosed within the persistent calyx, opening apically by teeth; seeds small, dry, dark, numerous.
• Phenology : Flowers from June to August.
• Habitat & elevation : Rocks and dolines in montane and high-mountain limestone habitats.
• Lebanese distribution : Endemic to Lebanon; recorded from the Cedars of Barouk, Jabal Kneissé, ‘Aïn el-Qarn, the Makmel massif toward Qornet es-Saouda, Jabal Sannine and the Makmel.
• Native range : Lebanon.
• Conservation notes : Assessed as Endangered (EN) according to IUCN criteria; narrow Lebanese endemic affected by grazing pressure and disturbance of high-mountain rocky habitats.
• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished from allied Dianthus species by its non-appressed epicalyx scales, usually 4–6 but variable in number, each with scarious margins and a strong herbaceous cusp, and by its pink, irregularly denticulate petals. Mouterde noted its strong variability in habit, pubescence and epicalyx-scale number, with normally developed plants observed under the Cedars of Barouk where grazing pressure was reduced.