Flora-Fauna

Ptilostemon chamaepeuce (L.) Less.

(Syn. Gen. Compos.: 5; 1832 – Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCX nº 1; 1969)

• Life-form & habit: Perennial subshrub 30–100 cm tall, forming dense, woody-based clumps with several erect to ascending stems. Stems striate, branched above, greyish-green, covered with fine tomentum and minute spinescent hairs.

• Leaves: Alternate, sessile, lanceolate to oblong, 5–15 × 1–3 cm, deeply sinuate or pinnatifid, with spiny-dentate lobes and a strong white midrib beneath. Upper surface green and slightly scabrid, underside whitish-tomentose. Margins with stiff yellowish spines up to 3 mm long.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Capitula solitary or in small terminal clusters, 2–3 cm in diameter, surrounded by a dense involucre of rigid, imbricate bracts. Outer bracts ovate-lanceolate with spiny tips; inner ones purplish and narrow. Florets all tubular, reddish-purple, exserted, forming a compact head. Receptacle densely bristly.

• Fruit: Achenes oblong, 4–5 mm long, striate, glabrous; pappus of long, scabrid, unequal white bristles, easily detached at maturity.

• Phenology: Flowers from May to July; fruits mature from June to August.

• Habitat & elevation: Dry rocky slopes, phrygana, and open scrub on limestone or marl, 300–1 600 m. Common on sunny hillsides and along forest edges.

• Lebanese distribution: Recorded by Mouterde from Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon — notably Dahr el-Baïdar, Barouk, Zahlé, Ras Baalbeck, and along the slopes of Jabal Sannine and the Beqaa Valley.

• Native range: Albania, Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Greece, Kriti, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Türkiye (POWO).

• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: A characteristic Eastern Mediterranean thistle-like composite, formerly included under Cirsium chamaepeuce or Carduus chamaepeuce. Distinguished by its densely tomentose, spiny leaves and compact purple heads with a long, persistent pappus. Closely related to Ptilostemon gnaphaloides, but the latter has narrower leaves and smaller, more numerous capitula.