Family |
Fumaria capreolata
Fumaria capreolata
L.
Fumaria capreolata L.
(First published in Sp. Pl. 2: 701 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. XXIX nº 8; 1970)
• Life-form & habit : Annual herb, spreading or often climbing, green and only slightly glaucous, reaching 1 m or more; stems glabrous, diffuse to scandent.
• Leaves : Leaves 2–3-pinnatisect, with flat oval, oblong or obovate-oblong segments.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Racemes long-pedunculate, many-flowered, dense at anthesis; flowers 9–14 mm long, white in the Lebanese-Syrian material, sometimes elsewhere more or less tinged with purple, with the petal tips purple-black; sepals 3–6 mm, white, with a green nerve; spur short, usually ovoid-rounded.
• Fruit : Achenes rounded, slightly compressed, not mucronate, smooth or only slightly roughened; fruiting peduncle recurved, then reflexed.
• Phenology : Flowers from January to June.
• Habitat & elevation : Gardens, hedges and rocky places; rather common according to Mouterde.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Nahr Damour, Khaldé, Beyrouth, Nahr-el-Kelb, Tripoli, Mtein, ‘Araya, below Beit Méri, Bikfaya and ‘Aqoura.
• Native range : Albania, Algeria, Baleares, Belgium, Canary Is., Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Egypt, France, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Morocco, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Sinai, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe.
• Introduced range : Alabama, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Azores, Bolivia, Brazil South, Cape Provinces, Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, Colombia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Desventurados Is., Dominican Republic, East Himalaya, Easter Is., Ecuador, Florida, Germany, Juan Fernández Is., Madeira, Netherlands, New South Wales, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Peru, Poland, Queensland, South Australia, Sweden, Transcaucasus, Uruguay, Western Australia.
• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished in Mouterde’s key by its large 9–14 mm flowers, white or sometimes purplish toward the petal tips, broad white sepals 3–6 mm long, recurved then reflexed fruiting peduncles, and rounded smooth or nearly smooth, non-mucronate achenes. It differs from Fumaria kralikii and F. thuretii by its much larger, predominantly white flowers; those species have smaller pink flowers and shorter floral dimensions.