Family |
Thymelaeaceae
Thymelaea gussonei
Boreau
Thymelaea gussonei Boreau
(= Lygia pubescens (Guss.) C.A.Mey.; Passerina pubescens Guss.; Thymelaea puberula Heldr.–Mazz.)
First published in Mém. Soc. Acad. Maine Loire 4: 121 (1858)
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. CCXLVIII nº 2; 1983, as Lygia pubescens)
• Life-form & habit: Pubescent perennial, 15–30 cm tall, with erect branches; stems ramified and densely leafy.
• Leaves: Lanceolate to linear, sessile, attenuate at both ends; surfaces clearly pubescent (the main diagnostic character distinguishing it from related taxa).
• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers hermaphroditic, axillary, solitary or more often in groups of 2–3, sessile, forming a long leafy spike.
Perianth appressed-pubescent, lobes ovate, obtuse, erect, and twice shorter than the tube.
• Fruit: Pyriform (pear-shaped).
• Phenology: April – July.
• Habitat & elevation: Field margins, disturbed soils, abandoned land.
• Lebanese distribution: L. St. (Liban-Sud): Source de l’Oronte (Mt, Np).
• Syrian distribution: Damascus region (Dam.), Doummar (Gaill.), Sahl es-Sahra (Sam), Dinaas (Bl), Kiswa (Pb), Harasta, Douma (Mt), Damas (Pb).
Hermon region (Herm.): Qatana to ʿAïssem el-Foqa (Sam).
Jazira & Euphrates regions (H.J.): banks of the Tigris, S of Khatouniyé, Jabal ʿAbd el-ʿAziz, N of Deir ez-Zor, Cheddadé (Pb).
Steppe (St.): Jabal Abiad (Bl), Reddé (Mt), Raqqa (Pb), Palmyra (Mt).
• Native range: Sicily, Sardinia, Lebanon, Syria, Hatay, Iraq.
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note:
– Distinguished from the preceding species by its denser pubescence (“se sépare… surtout par sa pubescence”).
– Often treated as a variety of closely allied Mediterranean taxa due to its minor diagnostic differences.