Flora-Fauna

Digitalis ferruginea L.

(Sp. Pl.: 368, 1753; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 265; Pl. CXXXIV nº 1a–b; 1983)

• Life-form & habit: Erect perennial, leafy, 80–100 cm tall, terminated by a dense or slightly lax raceme, simple.
• Leaves: Lanceolate, 15–25 cm long, glabrous or slightly puberulent beneath, long-attenuate at base, obtuse or triangular at apex, entire or faintly sinuate, traversed by numerous parallel veins.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Raceme up to 50 cm long, rachis glabrous. Bracts lanceolate, deflexed, often shorter than the calyx. Calyx glabrous, 5–7 mm, lobes obovate-elliptic, obtuse, scarious-margined. Corolla glandular-pubescent, yellow-tawny with ferruginous reticulate venation; tube dilated, subglobose. Upper lobes very short, rounded; lateral lobes short, acute; lower median lobe ovate, entire or slightly subtrilobed, pubescent inside.
• Fruit: Capsule scarcely exceeding the calyx, brown, c. 2 cm long, tipped by a persistent, somewhat curved style.
• Phenology: Flowers June–August.
• Habitat & elevation: Wooded regions.
• Lebanese distribution: Mount Lebanon — Sir-ed-Dennieh (source of Jouit), between ‘Aramoun and Chahtoul, Hiyata.
• Native range: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon–Syria, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Peninsula, Romania, Transcaucasus, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe (POWO).
• Introduced into: Germany (POWO).