Family |
Caprifoliaceae
Dipsacus laciniatus
L.
Dipsacus laciniatus L.
(First published in Sp. Pl.: 97 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. CLXXI; 1983)
• Life-form & habit : Annual or biennial robust herb, usually single-stemmed; stem erect, striate, armed with prickles, 50–100 cm tall.
• Leaves : Sessile, pubescent, ciliate along the margins; lower leaves attenuate at base, crenate or lobed; middle cauline leaves amplexicaul, pinnatipartite to pinnatifid; upper leaves acute, more or less prickly along the margins.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Capitula terminal, ovoid to cylindrical, surrounded by arcuate-ascending involucral bracts densely armed with prickles; receptacular paleae densely packed, ovate at base and prolonged into a long scabrid or basally plumose awn, strongly exceeding the flowers; corolla white to pale blue.
• Fruit : Achene enclosed within the persistent involucel, dry, small, and dispersed with the spiny head structures.
• Phenology : Flowers in summer.
• Habitat & elevation : Fertile humid places.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded from Dimane near the spring, above Sannine, and Ta‘naïl.
• Native range : Afghanistan, Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia-Slovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished from Dipsacus fullonum by its cut or pinnatifid leaves, cauline leaves only weakly amplexicaul, pubescent ciliate foliage, and pale white to very light blue corolla; D. fullonum usually has less divided leaves, strongly amplexicaul middle leaves with stronger prickles on the midrib, and lilac flowers.