Family |
Asteraceae
Onopordum floccosum
Boiss.
Leb. Syr.
Onopordum floccosum Boiss.
(Diagn. Pl. Orient., ser. 1, 10: 92; 1849. — Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 462; 1983, under Onopordum carduiforme incl. subsp. blancheanum)
• Life-form & habit: Plant more or less arachnoid-canescens, sometimes faintly puberulent, often exceeding 1 m; stem erect, more or less branched above, very shortly winged, weakly to strongly spiny throughout.
• Leaves: Pinnatipartite into very spiny segments, more rarely pinnatilobate.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Capitula 3–5 cm in diameter (excluding spines). Involucral bracts not exceeding 4–5 mm broad at base, extended into a narrow spine, slightly recurved, much longer than the bract body (≥ 2 cm), flat inside, very acute at apex. Lower bracts spreading or reflexed, upper bracts erect.
• Fruit: As in genus (achenes obovoid-tetragonal, glabrous, with deciduous pappus).
• Phenology: Flowers March–August.
• Habitat & elevation: From coastal areas up to high mountains, arid and disturbed habitats.
• Lebanese distribution: Ct. Tyr, Naqoura, Saïda, source of Nahr Beyrouth, Tripoli; ‘Akkar (Qala‘at Arrouba, between Cheikh Mohammed and Baïno, Jabal Qamoua); Mi. Jabal Terbol, Broummana; Mm. Les Cèdres, Ehden, Dimane, Hasroun, Jabal Jrad, Qal‘at el-Fakhra; Me. Jabal Sannine; Ve. ‘Aïnata; Met. Zahlé, Jdita, Ksara; Sud. Qala‘at ech-Chekif; A.L. Rayak.
• Native range: Lebanon, Syria.