| Apiaceae |
|---|
Eryngium billardieri DELAR. |
Eryngium billardieri DELAR. |
Eryngium billardieri DELAR. |
 Eryngium billardieri DELAR |
Eryngium L. |
| E. billardieri Delar., Eryng. Hist. 25, t. 2 (1808). Syn: E. nigromontanum Boiss. & Buhse, Aufz. Transk. Pers. 95 (1860); E. billardieri Delar. var. meio-ceplialum Boiss., Fl. Or. 2:825 (1872)! E. orientale Stapf & Wettst. in Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.-Nat. Kl. 51:47 (1886). le: Takhtajan & Fedorov, Atlas Fl. Erevuna: r. 82 (1946). Map 48, p. 305.
Rigid perennial wi th fibrous collars. Stems several, (20)- 40-75 cm,laxly branched
from about the middle. Basal leaves persistent, coriaceous, glaucous, petiole not spiny, lamina triangular to suborbicular in outline, 7-15 cm long and broad, ternate with bipinnatifid primary segments, the lobes and winged rachis dentate-spinose. Cauline leaves smaller, the median and upper ones broad, subamplexi-caul with spiny-margined base, those of the inflorescence tripartite. Inflorescence pale glaucous to amethyst, loosely paniculate with slender ascending branches; capitula numerous (over 20), globose, 9-17 mm diam. Bracts 5-7(-8), linear-lanceolate, pungent, 3(-5)-nerved, ± recurved, entire or remotely spinulose, 15-3 x capitulum. Bracteoles longer than sepals, all entire, or the outermost tricuspidate. Mericarps covered with ovate, obtuse to acute scales. Fl. 7-8. Rocky slopes, steppe, fallow fields, 1400-3810 m, locally dominant. Described from the Orient. Mainly E. Anatolia. A8 Gümüşane: S. foot of Soğanli Da., N. of Bayburt, D. 32011! A9 Kars: Kisir Da. above Susuz, 1800 m, D. 32583! B7 Tunceli: Hozat to Pertek, 1600 m, D. 31566! B8 Muş: Murat valley, 26 km from Muş to Varto, 1420 m, D. 46126! Erzurum: nr. Erzurum, 23 vii 1947, A. Heilbronn! B9 Van: 20 km W. of Tatvan, M. Zohary 476319! C6 Maraş: d. Elbistan, W. foot of Nuruhak Da., 1500 m, D. 20433! C9 Hakkari: Kara Da., 2740 m, D. 24378! C10 Hakkari: Yüksekova, Duncan & Tait 175! Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, Soviet Armenia, N., N.W., and W. Iran, N. Iraq, Afghanistan, W. Pakistan, Kashmir. Ir.-Tur. element. A very variable species, especially in inflorescence form and colour, length of bracts and form of outer bracteoles. Specimens from Lebanon {locus classicus) and Anti-Lebanon usually have longer bracts than other material, but this hardly seems to justify treating the latter as a separate race (subsp. nigromontanum). The recently described E. hainesii Townsend from N. Iraq (compared by its author to E. glomeratum and E. thyrsoideum) comes very close, despite its thyrsoid panicle, to forms of E. billardieri (vide D. 20433 cited above). |