Family |
Campanulaceae
Michauxia campanuloides
L'Hér.
Michauxia campanuloides L’Hér.
(Michauxia: [s.p.]; 1788 – Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CLXXXV nº 1; 1969)
• Life-form & habit: Biennial to short-lived perennial herb, 50–150 cm tall, forming a basal rosette in the first year and a tall, erect flowering stem in the second. Stems robust, angular, branched above, and densely covered with soft, greyish hairs.
• Leaves: Basal leaves large, oblanceolate to oblong, 20–40 × 3–8 cm, irregularly pinnatifid with toothed or lobed margins; upper cauline leaves smaller, sessile, lanceolate, often clasping the stem. Both surfaces softly pubescent and grey-green.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Large, many-flowered, racemose to paniculate inflorescence; pedicels long and slender, spreading or reflexed in fruit. Flowers showy, nodding, 4–6 cm in diameter. Calyx segments linear, 10–15 mm, persistent. Corolla rotate to deeply campanulate, lobes 6–10, long, reflexed, and twisted, whitish or pale lilac, tinged purple on the outside. Stamens 6–10, free, exserted; style long, slender, with a three-lobed stigma.
• Fruit: Capsule ovoid to subglobose, 10–15 mm long, dehiscing by apical pores; seeds numerous, small, dark brown, roughened.
• Phenology: Flowers from May to August; fruits mature in late summer.
• Habitat & elevation: Rocky limestone slopes, open scrubs, and dry montane grasslands, generally between 500 and 1 800 m; prefers sunny exposures and well-drained calcareous soils.
• Lebanese distribution: Reported by Mouterde from Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon — especially Dahr el-Baïdar, Barouk, Sannine, Ras Baalbeck, and Hermon foothills; frequent on dry, rocky slopes above Zahlé and Falougha.
• Native range: Eastern Mediterranean — Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon–Syria, Palestine, Türkiye.
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: The type species of the genus Michauxia, easily recognised by its large, pendulous, star-like flowers with strongly reflexed corolla lobes. Occasionally confused with Michauxia tchihatchewii Fisch. & Mey., but that species has narrower lobes and occurs mainly in Anatolia. A striking component of Levantine mountain flora and locally common in limestone steppes.