Flora-Fauna

Rumex angustifolius subsp. libanoticus Rech.f.

First published in Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 33: 354 (1934).

(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 389, Pl. CXXVIII, 1; 1966)

Description

Life-form & habit: Perennial with a thick rhizome. Stem 25–40 cm, erect or slightly flexuous, simple or sparingly branched, yellowish or brownish and lightly grooved.

Leaves: Flat, lanceolate, slightly crisped along the margins, tapering at the base and pointed at the tip. Basal petioles slender, approximately as long as the blade. Stem leaves often longer and narrower. In subsp. libanoticus, the blades are six to seven times as long as broad.

Inflorescence & flowers: Fruiting clusters spaced apart. Outer sepals at most half as long as the fruiting valves.

Fruit: Fruiting stalks stout, jointed near the middle, 3–4 mm in this subspecies. Fruiting valves leathery and net-veined, heart-shaped to triangular and distinctly longer than broad; margins entire, irregularly scalloped or eroded, with an occasional thickening on the midvein. Mouterde’s encompassing species description gives valves 10–20 mm long and brown achenes 6–8 × 4–5 mm.

Flowering and habitat

Phenology: April–June.

Habitat & elevation: Siliceous mountain soils.

Distribution

Lebanese distribution: Sannine, south of Khan Sannine, Neba es Succar and Sir.

Recorded locations: Sannine.

Native range: Lebanon, as stated in Kew’s taxon summary; its distribution list uses the combined botanical region Lebanon-Syria.

⚠️ Taxonomic note:

Kew restricts this subspecies to Lebanon. Verification against the FloraFauna Lebanese-endemic checklist was unavailable during this review, so its endemic status remains flagged for that cross-check. Mouterde’s wider Anatolian–Iranian range refers to the species as a whole, not to subsp. libanoticus.