Family |
Asparagales
Lactuca viminea
(L.) J.Presl & C.Presl
Lactuca viminea (L.) J.Presl & C.Presl
First published in Fl. Čech.: 160 (1819).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, pp. 530–531, under Scariola viminea, Pl. CCCXXXVIII, 3; 1983)
Description
Synonyms: Scariola viminea (L.) F.W.Schmidt; Prenanthes viminea L.
Life-form & habit: Glabrous biennial with an elongated spindle-shaped root. One or several erect, whitish stems, 50–150 cm tall, divide from the base or middle into slender, rod-like branches bearing spike-like racemes.
Leaves: Lower leaves shortly stalked and deeply pinnately divided into narrowly linear, entire or weakly toothed lobes. Other leaves have basal appendages and extend down the stem; the uppermost leaves are linear and entire.
Inflorescence & flowers: Erect, lateral and terminal, shortly cylindrical heads with five yellow flowers. Involucral bracts few, oval-oblong and progressively longer from the base upwards.
Fruit: Dark, compressed, lanceolate-linear achenes with seven to nine rough ribs on the faces, tapering into a beak of the same colour and approximately the same length as the body.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: August–September.
Habitat & elevation: Stony ground.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Antelias, Bikfaya, Jamhour, Dimane, Cedars of Hadeth, Jabal Kneisse, Baalbeck and the road to Yanta in the Hermon region.
Syrian distribution: Jabal Maaloula, Talaat Moussa, Jabal Qasyoun, Lake Trane, Fahel, Soueida, Tell Ahmar and Chahba.
Recorded locations: Sannine.
Native range: Albania, Algeria, Austria, Baleares, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Morocco, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Pen., Pakistan, Palestine, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine and West Himalaya.