Family |
Boraginaceae
Echium plantagineum
L.
Echium plantagineum L.
(First published in Mant. Pl. 2: 202 (1771); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. XXXVIII nº 1; 1983) (Plants of the World Online)
• Life-form & habit : Annual to biennial herb, multicaulous, with stems couching to ascending; indumentum made of short, rather soft bristles, all similar, inserted on very small tubercles; stem hairs more or less spreading.
• Leaves : Radical leaves ovate to oblong, narrowed into a petiole, with parallel veins visible beneath; cauline leaves sessile and more or less amplexicaul; floral leaves much reduced, cordate-lanceolate.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Cymes simple and pedunculate; calyx lobes bearing white, appressed bristles superposed on a very fine pubescence; corolla bright blue-violet, very flaring, 3–4 times longer than the calyx; stamens shortly exserted.
• Fruit : Nutlets more or less obtuse, with large tubercles.
• Phenology : Flowers from February to May.
• Habitat & elevation : Rocky places and abandoned or disturbed ground, from the coastal belt to the lower mountain belt in Lebanon.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Saïda to Nabatiyé, Beyrouth, Antélias, Dbayyé, Dékouané, Tripoli, below Beit Méri and Qrayyé.
• 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, Saudi Arabia, Selvagens, South European Russia, Spain, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe.