Flora-Fauna

Verbascum aliciae Post

(First published in Pl. Post. 3: 14; 1892. Treated in Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 219; Pl. CVI nº 2; 1983)

• Life-form & habit: Subshrubby at the base, 20–50 cm tall, covered with a dense white-woolly indumentum. Stems rigid, cylindrical, simple or branched.
• Leaves: Basal and lower cauline leaves petiolate, petiole 2–5 cm; blade oblong or obovate-spatulate, 2–5 × 1–1.5 cm, crenate, obtuse, cuneate at base. Upper cauline leaves shortly petiolate or subsessile, lanceolate or ovate-triangular, cordate to subauriculate at base, shortly acute.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Inflorescence lax, spiciform or branched. Flowers fasciculate 2–4 at axils, often solitary at tips of branches. Bracts lanceolate, acuminate. Pedicels up to 5 mm, with 2 bracteoles. Calyx 4–6 mm, lobes lanceolate. Corolla yellow, 15–25 mm diam., with translucent punctuations, tomentose outside.
• Fruit: Capsule elliptic to ovoid-globose, 4–5 mm, woolly.
• Phenology: Flowers May–July.
• Habitat & elevation: Dry regions, steppe slopes.
• Lebanese distribution: Ouadi Ibrissah, ‘Aïnata, Charbine, above Ksara.
• Syrian distribution: Source of the Orontes, Qousseir north of Hermel, Ouadi Sirrine; between Hama and Ma‘arat en-No‘man, Teledjin near Abou Douhour, El-Bab near Aleppo, El-Bab to Menbij, south of Sélémiyé, Jabal el-Hass, Izriyé to Mawrewda .
• Native range: Endemic to Lebanon and Syria.

⚠️ Taxonomic note: Considered by Mouterde as a narrow Levantine endemic. Its hybrid origin with Verbascum kotschyi has also been noted (V. aliciae × kotschyi reported from near Seraqab in Syria) .