Flora-Fauna

Hirtellina lobelii (DC.) Dittrich

(First published in Boissiera 51: 75; 1996. Treated in Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 447, Pl. CCLIII nº 4; 1984, as Staehelina lobelii DC.)

• Life-form & habit: Suffruticose subshrub, 30 – 60 cm, multicaule, scabrid at base, with stiff erect stems densely leafy and ending in corymbs of few capitula.

• Leaves: Sessile, narrow, lanceolate or sublinear, acute-mucronate, progressively reduced upwards; those of branchlets minute, scale-like.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Capitula oblong-cylindrical, 14 × 4–5 mm, with glabrous involucral bracts resin-dotted, closely imbricate, apiculate. Florets pinkish, inconspicuous.

• Fruit: Achenes silky, crowned with scabrid pappus hairs equaling fruit length.

• Phenology: Flowers August – September.

• Habitat & elevation: Rocky places, clearings, and open scrub.

• Lebanese distribution: Coastal and montane Lebanon: Nahr Saïnik, Ras Beirut, Nahr Beyrouth, Sin el-Fil, Tripoli, Broummana, Bhamdoun, Ghazir, Douma, Chahtoul, Nahr Ibrahim, Ehden, Cedars, Dimane, Qannoubine, ‘Aqoura, Jabal Qamoua, Amiq wood.

• Native range: Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Turkey.

• Conservation notes: Locally frequent but fragmented into scattered populations. Coastal habitats face urbanization pressure, while montane stations are threatened by grazing and pine tree afforestation.

• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: Originally described as Staehelina lobelii DC., later transferred by Dittrich (1996) to the genus Hirtellina.