Flora-Fauna

Saponaria pumilio Boiss.

≡ Saponaria pulvinaris Boiss. (syn.)
(First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient. ser. 1, 1: 18, 1843; treated in Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 509; 1966, as S. pulvinaris)

• Life-form & habit: Woody-rooted perennial, forming dense cushions of sterile rosettes with very short flowering stems (5–10 cm).

• Leaves: Sterile rosette leaves linear, slightly keeled, obtuse, ciliolate at base or along the entire margin, sometimes with scattered hairs on the lamina.

• Stems: Short, densely pubescent, with linear, acute cauline leaves and bracts.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Inflorescence hirsute-viscous, with short pedicels. Calyx cylindrical, very hirsute, with short teeth. Petal limb bright pink, spreading, retuse at the apex, with a crown of linear lobes.

• Fruits: Capsule oblong, equalling the calyx; seeds finely tuberculate.

• Phenology: Flowers June–August.

• Habitat & elevation: Alpine habitats, above 2,000 m.

• Lebanese distribution: Jabal Sannine (Pr, Bourquenoud, Torrend, etc.), above Tannourine, Col des Cèdres, above Ehden (‘Aïn el-Qarn, Dimane–Yammouné, Foum-el-Mizhab, Makmel summits, Qornet es-Saouda).

• Syrian distribution: Summit of Mount Hermon.

• Native range: Lebanon, Syria, mountains of Turkey (Boissier; Mouterde).