Family |
Lamiaceae
Teucrium capitatum
L.
Teucrium capitatum L.
≡ Teucrium polium L. sensu Mouterde (Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 110; Pl. L nº 6; 1983)
(First published in Sp. Pl.: 566; 1753)
• Life-form & habit: Suffrutescent at the base, much-branched; stems 10–30 cm, densely tomentose-canescente or lanate.
• Leaves: Sessile, oblong to obovate, obtuse, entire to crenulate, margins often revolute; densely white-tomentose on both sides.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Dense, subglobose to ovoid capitula of 10–20 flowers, terminal or axillary. Bracts linear-spatulate, shorter than flowers. Calyx tubular-campanulate, villous-tomentose, teeth triangular, short, concealed by indumentum. Corolla white to cream, pubescent outside, scarcely exceeding calyx. Stamens slightly exserted.
• Fruit: Nutlets oblong, smooth, glabrous.
• Phenology: Flowers May–September.
• Habitat & elevation: Dry rocky slopes, scrub, steppes; coastal to montane zones.
• Lebanese distribution (Mouterde): Saïda, Beirut, Ma‘meltein, Jamhour, Kahhalé, Chemlan, Jbaa, Saïdat Mantara, Bikfaya, Jabal Kneissé, Jabal Barouk, ‘Aïn Zhalta, Dahr-el-Baïdar, Zahlé, Mar Sema‘ane, Foum el-Mizhab, Rachaya, Qaraoun, Orontes sources, Qa‘a.
• Syrian distribution (Mouterde): Widespread in Anti-Lebanon and central Syria (Ma‘loula, Jabal Halimé, Zebdani, Bloudane, etc.).
• Native range (POWO): Mediterranean to Western Asia; in the Levant: Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Turkey.
⚠️ Taxonomic note: Mouterde (1983) identified Levantine material as Teucrium polium. Modern treatments (e.g. POWO, WCVP) assign these populations to T. capitatum L., restricting T. polium sensu stricto to other Mediterranean taxa. The change reflects revisions of type material and regional circumscription, though the precise revision assigning Levantine plants to T. capitatum instead of T. polium remains difficult to trace.