Family |
Asteraceae
Sonchus oleraceus
L.
Sonchus oleraceus L.
First published in Sp. Pl.: 794 (1753).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, pp. 527–528, Pl. CCCXXXIV, 1; 1983)
Description
Synonym: Sonchus ciliatus Lam., cited by Mouterde and accepted as a synonym by Kew.
Life-form & habit: Annual, very variable in size according to soil conditions, usually 30–100 cm tall or more. Stem erect and sparingly branched, with the branches forming approximately umbrella-shaped cymes.
Leaves: Oblong, pinnately lobed with backward-pointing segments or lyre-shaped, rarely undivided. Basal leaves shortly stalked; stem leaves heart-shaped at the base with ear-like lobes.
Inflorescence & flowers: Flower heads about 1 cm long, initially woolly at the base, sometimes slightly glandular together with their stalks. Flowers pale yellow; the strap-shaped part of the corolla is longer than its tube.
Fruit: Pale, obovate-oblong achenes, weakly flattened, with three veins on each face, without wings and slightly wrinkled across their surface.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Throughout the year.
Habitat & elevation: Cultivated land and abandoned ground.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Beirut, Saida, Tripoli, Abey, Bikfaya, Dimane, Qannoubine, Menges and Taanayel.
Syrian distribution: Cassius, Bhamra, Hama, Homs, Adra, Ain el Beida, Damascus, Ghouta and Palmyra.
Recorded locations: Qornet el Hamra.
Native range: Albania, Algeria, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burkina, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Central European Russia, Chad, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Djibouti, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Gulf States, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, North Caucasus, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Oman, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Selvagens, Sicilia, Sinai, Socotra, Somalia, South European Russia, Spain, Sudan-South Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Yemen.
Introduced into: Afghanistan, Altay, Amsterdam-St.Paul Is., Amur, Angola, Antipodean Is., Argentina Northeast, Assam, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Buryatiya, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Caroline Is., Chatham Is., Chile Central, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Christmas I., Cocos (Keeling) Is., Colombia, Cook Is., Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, DR Congo, East Himalaya, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eswatini, Falkland Is., Fiji, Free State, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hainan, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, India, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Jamaica, Japan, Jawa, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Kazan-retto, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., KwaZulu-Natal, Leeward Is., Lesotho, Line Is., Madagascar, Malaya, Manchuria, Marcus I., Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., Maryland, Mauritius, Mexico Southeast, Minnesota, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New South Wales, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Newfoundland, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Is., Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Ogasawara-shoto, Oregon, Pakistan, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn Is., Primorye, Puerto Rico, Qinghai, Queensland, Rodrigues, Réunion, Sakhalin, Society Is., South Australia, South China Sea, South Georgia, Sri Lanka, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tasmania, Texas, Thailand, Tibet, Tonga, Trinidad-Tobago, Tristan da Cunha, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Turkmenistan, Turks-Caicos Is., Tuva, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Victoria, Vietnam, Wake I., West Himalaya, West Siberia, Western Australia, Wisconsin, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Zambia, Zimbabwe.