Family |
Asteraceae
Taraxacum syriacum
Boiss.
Taraxacum syriacum Boiss.
(First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient., ser. 2, 3: 96; 1856. Treated in Nouv. Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 525, Pl. CCCXXX nº 1; 1984)
• Life-form & habit: Robust, slightly hairy perennial with lobed leaves forming basal rosettes; scapes hollow, bearing solitary capitula.
• Leaves: Deeply lobed, lobes triangular to lanceolate, margin irregularly dentate; midrib often reddish.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Capitula large, solitary, with numerous outer involucral bracts closely appressed and pruinose, pale-margined. Florets yellow.
• Fruit: Achenes light brown to reddish-tinged, verrucose and spinulose in the middle; pappus white.
• Phenology: Flowers summer – autumn (1 300 – 2 500 m).
• Habitat & elevation: Dry mountain grasslands and rocky slopes.
• Lebanese distribution: Dimane (near the spring), Yammouné, Hasroun, environs of Ehden, Khan Sannine, Jabal Barouk, Hadeth, Zahlé; also recorded from the Anti-Lebanon (Ouadi el-Qarn, NE of Bloudane, ʿAyyoun Berdi).
• Native range: North Africa, Southwest Asia, Turkestan.
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: A well-defined montane species of the Taraxacum officinale complex, characterized by its dense pruinose involucral bracts and distinctly spinulose achenes. Further study is needed to clarify its relation to T. montanum and nearby alpine forms occurring in Lebanon.