Flora-Fauna

Eremurus spectabilis M.Bieb.

(First published in Fl. Taur.-Caucas. 3: 269 (1819), nom. cons.; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, Pl. LXVII nº 3; 1966, syn. Eremurus libanoticus Boiss. & Buhse) (Plants of the World Online)

• Life-form & habit : Perennial geophyte with a rhizome producing slightly thickened cylindrical roots and a fibrous collar; flowering stem leafless, robust, commonly reaching or exceeding 1 m.

• Leaves : Leaves basal, broadly linear, acute, slightly scabrous on the margins, shorter than the naked flowering stem.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Raceme simple, dense-flowered, eventually elongating; bracts long-acuminate, ciliate, longer than the peduncles; peduncles not articulated, erect during flowering, becoming arched and dilated in fruit; perianth yellow-buff, campanulate-infundibuliform; tepals linear-oblong, eventually rolled; filaments brown, twice as long as the perianth; anthers short, vermilion, later brown and finally pale yellow when dry.

• Fruit : Capsule globose, shorter than its erect pedicel.

• Phenology : Flowers from April to June.

• Habitat & elevation : Fields above 1,400 m; broader regional sources also cite steppes, open scrub, limestone rocks and screes, usually in montane habitats. (dergipark.org.tr)

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from between Jezzine and Machghara, Dahr-el-Baidar, Jabal Kneissé, Jabal Zahrour, Khan Sannine, Jabal Hadid, Laqlouq, Jourd Tannourine, the Cedars, Ehden, and Chara de Baalbeck in the Anti-Lebanon.

• Native range : Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, South European Russia, Transcaucasus, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Ukraine.