Family |
Fabaceae
Trigonella spicata
Sm.
Trigonella spicata Sm.
First published in J.Sibthorp & J.E.Smith, Fl. Graec. Prodr. 2: 108 (1813).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, pp. 250–251, Pl. XCVIII, 4; 1970)
Description
Life-form & habit: Annual, erect or spreading and more or less branched, 20–40 cm tall.
Leaves: Lower leaflets obovate with a truncate tip; upper ones elliptic to linear. Stipules are broad at the base, narrowing into lanceolate, awl-like tips.
Inflorescence & flowers: Stalks two to three times as long as the leaves bear dense, oval or oblong heads that lengthen into spikes. Flowers yellow, 5–6 mm long. Lanceolate calyx teeth are about half as long as the tube.
Fruit: Densely grouped, bristly, flattened, ovate-oblong pods turn sharply downward along the inflorescence axis. Each ends in a divergent, pointed hook and is faintly net-veined.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Flowering April–June.
Habitat & elevation: Grassy places.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Saida, Ras Jedra, Beirut, Nahr Beirut, Antelias, Nahr el Kelb, Jamhour, below Beit Mery, Asfouriye, Antoura, Aley, Baabda, Mar Roukhos, Jabal Terbol, Harissa, Ehden and Kfertay.
Syrian distribution: Tartous, south of Safita, Manjillah near Nahr el Kech, Qastal Maaf, Yaila, north of Tell Kotchek and the Tigris banks.
Native range: Bulgaria, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Greece, Iran, Iraq, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe.
Introduced into: Germany.