Flora-Fauna

Origanum libanoticum Boiss.

First published in Diagnoses Plantarum Orientalium 5: 14 (1844)
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. XCI nº 1; 1983)

• Life-form & habit: Glabrous perennial, woody at the base, multicaule, 30–60 cm tall. Stems leafy, often paniculate toward the summit, rigid.

• Leaves: Pale green, ovate, obtuse, shortly petiolate, somewhat spaced; uppermost cauline leaves very reduced and sessile.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers borne on slender, naked peduncles, more or less spreading and often horizontal, reaching up to 3 cm. Spikes commonly nodding, ovoid, becoming rather loose at maturity. Bracts large, 8–12 × 8–10 mm, obtuse or subacute, usually strongly suffused with purple (sometimes white-green by albinism), concealing the flowers except for the tips of the exserted stamens. Calyx bilabiate to a little above the middle: lower lip with two subacute teeth; upper lip entire or divided into three short, rounded teeth. Corolla pink, more than twice as long as the calyx, bilabiate, with spreading lower lip and long-exserted stamens.

• Fruit: Four smooth nutlets.

• Phenology: Spring – summer.

• Habitat & elevation: Wooded sites and grassy slopes.

• Lebanese distribution: Reported by Mouterde from Choueir, Nahr Ibrahim, Chahtoul, Khan Sannine, El-Farat, Douma, Bchéla above Douma, Jabal Mnei’tri, Ghazir–Afqa, Afqa, ʿAqoura, ʿAqoura–Mejdel, ʿAïtou, Ehden, Notre-Dame d’Ehden, Mar Moussa, Sir-ed-Denniyé, Bcharré–Les Cèdres, Fneideq, Jabal Qammoua, and the base of Jabal ʿAqroum.

• Native range: Endemic to Lebanon.

• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: A key member of Mouterde’s section Amaracus, immediately recognisable by its large, purple-tinted bracts and nodding ovoid spikes. Frequently hybridises with O. syriacum where both species grow in close contact.