Flora-Fauna

Dittrichia viscosa (L.) Greuter

(First published in Exsicc. Genav. Conserv. Bot. Distrib. Fasc. 4: 71 (1973); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3; 1983, as Inula viscosa (L.) Aiton)

• Life-form & habit : Perennial aromatic subshrub, 40–120 cm tall; stems erect, much branched, woody at base, densely leafy, viscid-glandular and strongly scented.

• Leaves : Alternate, sessile to subsessile, narrowly lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, entire to weakly denticulate, glandular-viscid, somewhat sticky to the touch, green to grey-green.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Capitula numerous, arranged in terminal corymbose panicles; involucre narrow, with several rows of glandular bracts; florets yellow, the outer ones ligulate and the inner ones tubular.

• Fruit : Achenes small, hairy, topped by a pappus of fine bristles.

• Phenology : Flowers mainly from late summer to autumn.

• Habitat & elevation : Roadsides, fallow fields, rocky slopes, abandoned land, disturbed ground and dry open habitats.

• Lebanese distribution : Widespread in Lebanon, especially in coastal, lower montane and disturbed habitats.

• Native range : Albania, Algeria, Azores, Baleares, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Sinai, Spain, Tunisia, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe.

• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished by its sticky glandular leaves, strong aromatic smell and numerous yellow capitula appearing mainly in late summer and autumn; formerly treated in Mouterde under Inula viscosa, now accepted as Dittrichia viscosa.