Flora-Fauna

Dianthus orientalis Adams subsp. nassireddinii (Stapf) Rech.f.

(First published in Pl. Syst. Evol. 151: 292 (1986); basionym: Dianthus nassireddinii Stapf, Denkschr. Kaiserl. Akad. Wiss., Wien, Math.-Naturwiss. Kl. 51: 279 (1886); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, Pl. CLXXXVI nº 3; 1966, under Dianthus orientalis var. brachyodontus)

• Life-form & habit : Perennial multicaule chamaephyte, 10–60 cm tall; stems erect, short and rigid, or decumbent-ascending, long and slender, usually 1-flowered or shortly branched.

• Leaves : Opposite, linear, more or less short, rigid to somewhat soft, with scabrid margins.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers solitary or few; epicalyx scales 4–6, very close, oblong, acute, mucronate or not; calyx narrow, elongated, 1–2.5 cm long, sometimes flushed reddish-purple, with lanceolate-acuminate teeth; petal blade pink, usually well developed and divided above the middle into more or less long, slightly flexuous fimbriae, often bearded at the throat.

• Fruit : Capsule enclosed within the persistent calyx, opening apically by teeth; seeds small, dry, dark.

• Phenology : Flowers from August to November.

• Habitat & elevation : Wooded places and pastures.

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded in Lebanon under the Dianthus orientalis complex; Mouterde treated the Lebanese plants under var. brachyodontus, with long slender stems, calyx up to 3 cm, strongly bearded petals at the base, and usually 6 epicalyx scales.

• Native range : Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Transcaucasus, Türkiye.

• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished within the Dianthus orientalis complex by its 4–6 closely appressed epicalyx scales, elongated narrow calyx, pink petals fimbriate above the middle and often bearded at the throat. Mouterde considered the typical Caucasian and North Iranian form absent from Lebanon and Syria, and treated the regional material mainly under var. brachyodontus, now included by POWO within subsp. nassireddinii.