Flora-Fauna

Verbascum beryteum Boiss.

First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient. 12: 28 (1853).

(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, pp. 209–210, Pl. CXIV, 1, as Verbascum berytheum; 1983)

Description

Life-form & habit: Biennial, 40–100 cm tall, with simple, stiff hairs and shorter glands; hairs neither star-shaped nor branched. Root tuber-like according to Mouterde’s key. Stems simple or branched above, with spaced leaves.

Leaves: Basal leaves on stalks 2–5 cm long; blades oblong-spatulate, 3–20 × 1–6 cm, deeply divided in a lyre-like pattern with a few small lateral segments and a large, wavy-lobed, oval or oblong terminal segment. Stem leaves much smaller, oblong or linear, weakly lobed or entire, with variable small teeth.

Inflorescence & flowers: Loose, branched panicle with solitary flowers in the bract axils. Bracts oval-lanceolate, pointed, 2–4 mm long; flower stalks 10–25 mm. Calyx 3–5 mm long, divided to the base into pointed, glandular lanceolate lobes. Corolla yellow, 20–32 mm across, with glands and simple hairs outside. Five stamens, with centrally attached anthers and violet-haired filaments.

Fruit: Nearly spherical capsule, 4–7 mm long, glandular or hairless.

Flowering and habitat

Phenology: April–July.

Habitat & elevation: Fields and wooded places.

Distribution

Lebanese distribution: Ras Naqoura, Saida, Beirut, Dekouane, Nahr el Kelb, Jbail, Bikfaya, below Beit Meri, Broummana, Jamhour, Abey, Antoura, Mar Roukos, Harissa and Araya–Chouite.

Recorded locations: Kfertay.

Native range: Lebanon-Syria and Palestine.

⚠️ Taxonomic note:

Mouterde spells the name V. berytheum; Kew’s accepted spelling is Verbascum beryteum.