Flora-Fauna

Reichardia intermedia (Sch.Bip.) Samp.

(First published in Bol. Soc. Brot. 24: 68; 1909. Treated in Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 530).

Description

Life-form & habit: Annual, glabrous or slightly pubescent, 10–40 cm tall. Stems simple or branched from the base.

Leaves: Basal leaves lyrate-pinnatifid or lobed, petiolate; upper leaves smaller, often entire, sessile, clasping the stem.

Inflorescence & flowers: Capitula solitary, pedunculate, with involucral bracts lanceolate, subequal, inner ones scarious at the margin; ligules yellow.

Fruit: Achenes fusiform, striate, with a long, slender, persistent beak; pappus of numerous white, scabrous hairs.

Flowering and habitat

Phenology: Flowers March–May.

Habitat: Dry rocky and sandy soils, often near the coast.

Distribution

Lebanese localities: Beirut (Mt, Pb), Saïda (Gaill., Pb), Tripoli (Gaill.), Batroun (Mt), Tyr (Mt).

Syrian localities: Lattaquié, Tartous (coast).

Native to: Algeria, Baleares, Canary Is., Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Greece, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Morocco, Palestine, Portugal, Sicilia, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey (POWO).