Flora-Fauna

Hedysarum coelesyriacum Sam. ex Rech.f.

(Ark. Bot., a.s., 1: 310, 1950; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 384; Pl. CLVII nº 2; 1966)

• Life-form & habit: Perennial with woody stock; stems erect or prostrate, branched at base, appressed-canescente, 30–80 cm tall.
• Leaves: 4–8 pairs of leaflets, spaced, pubescent on both sides, strongly canescent beneath, margins somewhat folded; leaflets ovate to elliptic. Stipules reddish, silky-pubescent, later glabrescent.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Peduncles much longer than the leaves, reaching up to 60 cm in tall plants, 20–30 cm in smaller ones. Inflorescences spiciform, often very elongated, lax, with numerous flowers that fall early when drying. Bracts minute, triangular, pubescent. Pedicels c. 2 mm, curved, canescent. Calyx 2–3 mm, triangular-teethed, shorter than the tube, canescent. Corolla pink, 8–10 mm; standard ovate, shorter than keel and wings; wings lanceolate, shorter than keel, with ascending tooth; keel sharply curved at nearly a right or acute angle, also toothed.
• Fruit: Loment usually of 1, rarely 2 articles, c. 1 cm, tomentose-canescente, slightly biconcave, with a faint groove parallel to margin; surface bearing long, fine, tubercle-based hairs, purplish or yellowish-green.
• Phenology: Flowers June–July.
• Habitat & elevation: Dry places, rocky steppe habitats.
• Lebanese distribution: Ouadi Fou‘ara, Ouadi Ibrissa (original collections); also Ouadi Taniyat-er-Ras.
• Native range: Endemic to the Anti-Lebanon and Beqaa margins (Lebanon–Syria).

⚠️ Diagnostic note: Distinguished by its appressed-canescente foliage, long peduncles, sharply bent keel, and loments with usually a single article clothed in long purplish or yellowish hairs.