Family |
Apiaceae
Tordylium cordatum
(Jacq.) Poir.
Tordylium cordatum (Jacq.) Poir.
First published in J.B.A.M.de Lamarck, Encycl. 7: 712 (1806).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 656, under Ainsworthia cordata; Pl. CCCXX, fig. 3)
Description
Life-form & habit: Annual herb, 30–60 cm tall, pubescent with spreading hairs. Stem tall, angular and striate.
Leaves: Shortly petiolate, ovate-cordate, blunt and crenate. Leaves undivided, or the upper ones divided into three ovate lobes, with the terminal lobe wedge-shaped at the base.
Flowers & involucel: Involucel longer than the flowers. In Mouterde’s generic account of Ainsworthia, flowers are white and the outer petals are strongly radiating and divided into two unequal lobes.
Fruit: Ovate-orbicular, finely warty on the disc, with a thick, smooth margin narrower than the seed. Secretory canals slender and spaced apart.
Flowering and habitat
Flowering: April–May.
Habitat & elevation: Roadsides and disturbed ground. Mouterde gives no numerical elevation range in this species account.
Distribution
Lebanese localities: Nahr-el-Kelb, Beirut at the American University of Beirut, and Qannoubine.
Regional localities listed under Syria by Mouterde: Froulok and the banks of the Tigris.
Recorded locations: Qornet el Hamra, Bherdok.
Native range: Eastern Mediterranean to Iraq. POWO lists Iraq, Lebanon-Syria and Palestine.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
POWO accepts Tordylium cordatum (Jacq.) Poir. and lists Ainsworthia cordata (Jacq.) Boiss. and its basionym Hasselquistia cordata Jacq. as homotypic synonyms. Mouterde’s species text attributes Ainsworthia cordata and Hasselquistia cordata to L.f.; his plate caption and index instead use Jacq. The author citation adopted here follows POWO, which gives Hasselquistia cordata Jacq., Hort. Bot. Vindob. 2: 91 (1773), and Ainsworthia cordata (Jacq.) Boiss., Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 3, 1: 343 (1844). Mouterde’s morphology and localities are retained under the accepted combination.
Mouterde gives southern Türkiye, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Cyprus as the geographical range. POWO’s current native-country listing is narrower in some respects and includes Iraq; it does not list Türkiye or Cyprus for this taxon. The historical and current distribution statements are therefore distinguished rather than combined into a single verified range.
Sources:
Mouterde, vol. 2, p. 656 and Pl. CCCXX, fig. 3; Kew POWO.