Family |
Rubiaceae
Galium pestalozzae
Boiss.
Endemic to Lebanon
Galium pestalozzae Boiss.
(First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient. 10: 65 (1849); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. CLIV nº 3; 1983, incl. Galium ehrenbergii Boiss.) (powo.science.kew.org)
• Life-form & habit : Perennial, cespitose herb or small subshrub, 15–25 cm tall; stems very long, filiform, quadrangular, prostrate or erect, densely leafy; plant glabrous or velvety, blackening on drying.
• Leaves : Leaves in whorls of 6, elliptic-lanceolate, attenuate at both ends, thin and almost transparent.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers arranged in trichotomous corymbs; pedicels capillary, erect, longer than the flower; corolla white, about 4 mm in diameter; anthers pink.
• Fruit : Fruit about 2 mm, glabrous; in f. ehrenbergii the fruit was once described as somewhat granulate, but Mouterde considered this character not constant.
• Phenology : Flowers from April to May.
• Habitat & elevation : Shaded places among rocks, in the lower and middle mountain belts of Lebanon.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Hiyate near Chahtoul, Feitroun, Faraya, Mayrouba, Rayfoun, Ghazir, Sofar, Beskinta, above Khan Hussein, Jisr-el-Hajar, Afqa, Sannine, Laqlouq, east of Ehmej, and between Yammouné and ‘Aqoura. The form ehrenbergii is recorded from Feitroun, Rayfoun, Jisr-el-Hajar, Afqa, ‘Aqoura and near Bcharré.
• Native range : Lebanon.
• Diagnostic remarks : Lebanese endemic. Mouterde included Galium ehrenbergii Boiss. within G. pestalozzae as f. ehrenbergii, noting that its fine pubescence, especially along the stems, and the supposed longer calyx tube and slightly granulate fruit are not constant, with transitional plants linking it to typical G. pestalozzae. POWO accepts Galium pestalozzae Boiss. and gives its native range as Lebanon. (powo.science.kew.org)