Family |
Euphorbiaceae
Mercurialis annua
L.
Mercurialis annua L.
First published in Sp. Pl.: 1035 (1753).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, pp. 500–501; 1970)
Description
Life-form & habit: Annual with erect, branched stems, 20–40 cm tall. Male plants are paler and taller, with longer internodes than female plants.
Leaves: Opposite, hairless, stalked and finely toothed.
Inflorescence & flowers: Male flowers with numerous stamens form clusters along an erect stalk much longer than the leaves. Female flowers are solitary or paired in the leaf axils and almost stalkless. Flowers lack a corolla.
Fruit: Two-lobed capsule covered with bristle-tipped tubercles. Seeds elliptical, yellow, pitted and tuberculate.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Throughout the year.
Habitat & elevation: Cultivated land and rocks.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Saida, Beirut, Nahr Beirut, Nahr el Kelb, Tripoli, Kaftine, Chemlan, Hasroun and Ehden.
Syrian distribution: Damascus, Douma, Tell Hadid, Chahba, Latakia, Chakrourane and Jabal Semaan.
Recorded locations: Qornet el Hamra.
Native range: Albania, Algeria, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Central European Russia, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, East Aegean Is., Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Gulf States, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Romania, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Selvagens, Sicilia, Sinai, Spain, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine.
Introduced into: Alabama, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Ascension, Bahamas, Baltic States, Bermuda, California, Cape Provinces, Denmark, Eritrea, Falkland Is., Great Britain, Haiti, Ireland, Jamaica, Maryland, Mexico Central, Netherlands, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Northwest European Russia, Poland, St.Helena.