Flora-Fauna

Micromeria fruticosa (L.) Druce

= Micromeria serpyllifolia (Bieb.) Boiss.
= Clinopodium serpyllifolium (M. Bieb.) Kuntze
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 176; 1983, as Micromeria serpyllifolia)

• Life-form & habit: Strongly pubescent perennial, grey-green, 50–100 cm tall; stems erect or ascending, sometimes branched into loose panicles.

• Leaves: Petiolate, oblong-ovate, 1–5 cm long, cuneate at base, margins entire or slightly undulate; upper leaves more acute.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Cymes long-pedunculate, repeatedly dichotomous. Calyx very small (2–2.5 mm), teeth triangular, six times shorter than tube. Corolla white, 4–5 mm, twice as long as calyx; lower lip longer than the upper.

• Fruit: Nutlets smooth, oblong.

• Phenology: Flowers July–December.

• Habitat & elevation: Rocky ground, steppe habitats, and arid slopes.

• Lebanese distribution: Coastal and inland mountains sporadically (Saïda, Joun, Dennie, subalpine slopes, Tawmat Niha, Ehden forest, above Jezzine, Fnaideq, Qala‘at Fakhra, Yammouné).

• Syrian distribution: Anti-Lebanon (Maaloula, Yabroud, Madaya, Ouadi Houreiré), north Lattaquié (Karadourane), Hermon, Aleppo region.

• Native range: Crimea, Armenia, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine (per Mouterde). According to Euro+Med, the species also occurs in: Crimea; Former Yugoslavia; Israel/Palestine–Jordan; Italy (with San Marino and Vatican City); Lebanon–Syria; Spain (with Gibraltar and Andorra); Türkiye (Asiatic part).