Flora-Fauna

Echium judaeum Lacaita

(First published in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 44: 449 (1919); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. XXXVIII nº 2; 1983)

• Life-form & habit : Biennial herb, close to Echium plantagineum; stems usually fewer, 30–80 cm tall, covered over a weak pubescence with rather long, stiff bristles.

• Leaves : Leaves variable in shape; basal leaves petiolate, ovate; cauline leaves usually narrower than the basal ones, often bearing scattered, well-developed tubercles, not amplexicaul.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Cymes becoming elongated toward the end of anthesis and rather lax in fruit; calyx silky, with white, only slightly rough hairs; corolla showy, with an oblique throat, varying from pale pink to bright blue, pubescent outside and not ciliate on the margin; stamens scarcely exserted; style bifid.

• Fruit : Nutlets 4, free, ovoid to triquetrous, tuberculate-rugose, typical of the genus.

• Phenology : Flowers from March to May.

• Habitat & elevation : Abandoned ground and rocky places.

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded from Oumm-el-Aouamid toward Naqoura, ‘Adloun, Tyr, Qala‘at ech-Chekif, Ibl-es-Saki, Sarada and Ouadi-el-Harir.

• Native range : Cyprus, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine.

• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished from Echium plantagineum by its longer and stiffer hairs, non-amplexicaul cauline leaves, usually well-developed foliar tubercles, silky calyx with white hairs, and scarcely exserted stamens.