Family |
Apiaceae
Ferulago trachycarpa
Boiss.
Leb. Syr. Tur.
Ferulago trachycarpa Boiss.
(First published in Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 3, 1: 319; 1844. Treated in Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 644, Pl. CCXCIV nº 3; 1970)
• Life-form & habit: Tall perennial, 60 – 150 cm, with stout stems, glabrous or slightly pubescent, striate, often branched.
• Leaves: Radical leaves very large, broadly triangular in outline, 3–4 pinnatisect; segments oblong-lanceolate, often acute. Cauline leaves progressively reduced, the uppermost reduced to sheathing bracts.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Large compound umbels with numerous long unequal rays. Involucral bracts linear-filiform, persistent. Umbellules with several narrow bracteoles. Flowers yellow; petals ovate, reflexed at the apex.
• Fruit: Mericarps ovate, 8–10 mm, dorsally compressed, with strong, rugose ridges and broad, undulate wings — a key character of this species.
• Phenology: Flowers May to July.
• Habitat & elevation: Dry rocky slopes and open montane habitats, 800 – 1 800 m.
• Lebanese distribution: Documented in Metn, Kesrouan, Sannine, Baalbeck area, and Anti-Lebanon.
• Native range: Syria and Lebanon (Levantine endemic).
• Conservation notes: Populations localized in rocky montane habitats; threatened by grazing, road building, and pine tree afforestation projects in its altitudinal belt.
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: Readily distinguished from allied species (F. syriaca, F. cassia) by its strongly rugose fruit with broad undulate wings; described by Boissier from Lebanese material.