Family |
Orobanchaceae
Phelipanche nana
Noë ex Rchb.
Phelipanche nana (Noë ex Rchb.) Soják
First published in Čas. Nár. Mus., Odd. Přír. 140: 130 (1972).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 276, Pl. CXXXIX, 4; 1983)
Accepted name: Orobanche nana Noë ex Rchb., according to Kew.
Description
Synonyms: Phelypaea nana (Noë ex Rchb.) Rchb.f.; Phelypaea ramosa var. nana (Noë ex Rchb.) Boiss.
Life-form & habit: Parasitic herb with slender, simple or branched stems, usually swollen at the base, 10–20 cm tall.
Leaves: Few scales, 6–10 mm long.
Inflorescence & flowers: Usually dense spikes of bright blue-violet flowers. Calyx teeth taper to slender, thread-like tips. Corolla about 15 mm long, with elliptic, somewhat pointed lobes.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: February–May.
Habitat & elevation: Parasitic on various plants, with a marked preference for Oxalis pes-caprae; Mouterde records it as very abundant on this host along the coast.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Tyr, Nebi el Aousai, Beirut, Nahr el Kelb, Hadeth, Fayadiye and Menges in Akkar.
Syrian distribution: Tartous, Jabal Qasyoun, Tell Aqibrin, the banks of the Tigris and Soueida.
Recorded locations: Rabieh.
Native range: For the accepted name Orobanche nana: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Egypt, France, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Sinai, Spain, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Türkiye and Türkiye-in-Europe.
Introduced into: Czechia-Slovakia, under the accepted name Orobanche nana.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
Kew treats Phelipanche nana as a synonym of Orobanche nana Noë ex Rchb. The CMS name and its publication are retained; distribution follows the accepted taxon. Mouterde uses Orobanche nana with a different historical author citation.