Family |
Boraginaceae
Heliotropium supinum
L.
Heliotropium supinum L.
First published in Sp. Pl.: 130 (1753).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 50, Pl. XXVII, 1; 1983)
Description
Life-form & habit: Annual herb with prostrate, greyish stems 20–40 cm long; branches bear spreading hairs, while leaf hairs lie close to the surface.
Leaves: All stalked, ovate and blunt, 5–20 mm long; the upper leaves have conspicuous veins.
Inflorescence & flowers: Dense cymes of flowers generally less than 5 mm long. Corolla about 2 mm long, only slightly exceeding the calyx, with a cylindrical tube hairy outside. Stigma conical and hairy at its tip.
Fruit: Usually a single smooth, hairless, plano-convex nutlet, rarely several. The closely enclosing calyx falls with the fruit.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: May–August; development varies with the timing of seasonal drying.
Habitat & elevation: Ground flooded in spring and exposed as the water recedes.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Tripoli, Ammiq, Qalaat Chekif and near Rachaya. Ammiq is also represented in the recorded locations.
Syrian distribution: Rakhle, Nahr Abrache, Hamme, north of Qneitra, Ezra'a, Chahba, Homs and Khan Abou Chamate.
Native range: Albania, Algeria, Angola, Baleares, Bangladesh, Benin, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Chad, Corse, Cyprus, Djibouti, East Aegean Is., Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, NW. Balkan Pen., Pakistan, Palestine, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Senegal, Sicilia, Sinai, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan-South Sudan, Tadzhikistan, Tanzania, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Introduced into: Germany, Pennsylvania.