Flora-Fauna

Heliotropium hirsutissimum Weber

(First published in Pl. Min. Cogn. Decuria: 1; 1784. Treated in Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 474; Pl. CCX nº 3; 1966)

• Life-form & habit: Annual herb, 10–40 cm, covered with long, soft, spreading hairs, giving the plant a whitish, hirsute appearance. Stems branched from base, ascending or prostrate.
• Leaves: Alternate, ovate-lanceolate to oblong, 15–40 mm, densely hairy on both surfaces; apex obtuse to acute, margin entire, sessile or subsessile.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers in helicoid cymes (scorpioid), elongating in fruit. Calyx lobes narrow-lanceolate, persistent. Corolla small, white, with a short tube and 5-lobed limb, about 3 mm. Stamens included.
• Fruit: Schizocarp breaking into 4 nutlets, each densely hairy.
• Phenology: Flowers and fruits from March to June.
• Habitat & elevation: Dry fields, roadsides, waste ground; coastal to low montane areas up to 1,200 m.
• Lebanese distribution: Widespread along the coastal plain (Beirut, Saïda, Tripoli, Tyr) and into lower mountain slopes (Aley, Beit Chabab).
• Syrian distribution: Reported around Damascus, Ma‘loula, Hama, and the coastal region near Latakia.
• Native range: Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Egypt, Greece, Crete (Kriti), Lebanon–Syria, Libya, Palestine, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe (POWO).

⚠️ Taxonomic note: Readily recognized in the Levant by its dense, shaggy indumentum covering all vegetative and reproductive parts. Distinguished from H. europaeum by its longer, softer hairs and less compact cymes.