Lamiaceae

T. polium L., Sp. P1. 566 (1753). Incl var. vulgare Bentham, Lab. Gen. Sp. 685 (1835); var. hirsutum Bentham, op. cit. 685 (1835); var. angust-ifolium Bentham, op. cit. 686 (1835); var. gnaphalodes Bentham, op. cit. 686 (1835); var. bithynicum Griseb., Spic. 2:150 (1844); var. vulgare Boiss., Fl. Or. 4:821 (1879); subsp. capitatum (L.) Arcangeli, Comp. Fl. Ital. 559 (1882); var. intermedium Čelak. in Bot. Centr. 14:152 (1883); var. lanugino-sum Čelak., loc. cit. (1883); var. spicatum Post, Fl. Syria ed. 1:665 (1896); var. angustifolhim (Miller) Beg. & Diratz., Contr. Fl. Armen. 96 (1912); var. latifolium (Miller) Beg. & Diratz., loc. cit. (1912). Ic: Boul., Fl, Lib. Syr. t. 356(1930),as vars. angustifolium & vulgare; Fl. RPR 8: t. 13 f. 1 (1961).
Suffruticose perennial. Stems 10-40 cm, prostrate to erect, with white, grey (or sometimes golden) lanuginose-tomentose or crisped indumentum, intemodes shorter or longer than leaves. Leaves oblong to narrowly obovate or linear, obtuse, crenate to the base or middle, flat or revolute-margined, usually tomentose. Flowers very shortly pedicellate, borne in heads (capit-ula). Bracts linear-spathulate, crenate or entire, shorter to slightly longer than calyces. Calyx 3-5 mm, tubular-obconical, usually densely lanuginose or ad-pressed-canescent, divided to 1/4-1/3 into subequal, obtuse teeth. Corolla whitish, proximal lobes occasionally glabrous. Nutlets 2 mm. Fl. 6-9. Dry places, Quercus scrub, rocky slopes, steppe, dunes, field margins etc., s.l-2050 m.
Described from Italy, Spain, Portugal & S. France (BM-Hb. Cliff.; Hb. Linn. 722/35-41).
Widespread. A 1(E) Istanbul: Çatalca, Terkos, Yalt. (ISTO 18139)! Al (A) Istanbul: 20 km E. of Istanbul, Danish Exped. 1! A2(A) Kocaeli: Gebze to Izmit, 50 m, D. 36247! A3 Eskişehir: Laçin, 400 m, Ekim 3112! A4 Ankara: Etlik, Yalt. (ISTO 17537)! A5 Amasya : nr Amasya, T. Baytop (ISTE 4668)! A6 Samsun: Ladik, Kara Da., 30 km from Ünye to Samsun, s.l., Karaman oğlu 800! A7 Trabzon: Beştaş, Dent 54! A8 Çoruh: Çoruh gorge, 450 m, D. 30050! A9 Kars: Kağizman, 1300 m, D. 46837! Bl Manisa : Kırkağaç to Soma, Peşmen 199! B2 Kütahya: Tavşanli, Regel (EGE 867)! B3 Kütahya: Türkmen Da., 1400 m, Ekim 2012! B4 Ankara: Kepekli boğazi, 850 m, Ekim 422! B5 Kayseri: Bünyan, Tuzhisar, 1350 m, Yamantaş (ISTO 18252)! B6 Malatya: Gürün, 40 km from Malatya, McNeill 467! B7 Elaziğ: Hazar G., 1500 m, D. 22092! B8 Erzurum: 20 km from Aşkale to Trabzon, 1900 m, Kukkonen 8054! B9 Bitlis: Tatvan, 2050 m, Tong 67! B10 Ağri: d. Doğubay-azit, Diyadin, 1200 m, Hewitt 166! Cl Aydin: Kuşadası, Selçuk, Peşmen et al. (EGE 7325)! C2 Muğla: 10 km from Muğla to Marmaris, 30 m, D. 35388! C3 Konya: nr Seydişehir, Bordaz 23! C4 Konya: Karapınar, 1000 m, Ekim 3243! C5 Içel: Gülek Boğazı, 1400 m, Siehe 1896: 641! C6 Gaziantep: Dülükbaba, 1200 m, Ekim 3722! C7 Urfa: Akçakale, 400 m, D. 28112! C8 Mardin: Mardin, Sint. 1888:1922! C9 Hakkari: Cilo Da., 1900 m, D. 23928! C10 Hakkari: nr junction of Van-Hakkari/Yüksekova roads, 1700 m, D. 44713! Is: Imroz, Forsskål; Lesvos, Cand.;Khios, Rech. obs.; Samos, Fors.-Maj. 711; Kalimnos, Rech. 7880;Rodhos, Rech. 7485.
An exceptionally variable polymorphic species, especially in Turkey. Although most of the Turkish material can be assigned to about 10 infra-specific groups with their own centres of distribution, morphological and geographical overlap is common. Most of the material either has laxly ± tomentose calyx indumentum, or crisped-adpressed-tomentose calyx indumentum, but some of the variants transgress this division. Formal nomenclature and the keying out of the variants present problems that cannot be solved here. The synonymy cited above includes only the names that have been applied (often wrongly) to Turkish material of T. polium.
Sect. Isotriodon Boiss. Dwarf, suffrutescent, fragile, saxatile herbs. Leaves dentate or entire. Stems terete. Racemes simple, secund. Calyx gibbous at base, bilabiate, upper 3 teeth shortly ovate, lower 2 teeth shortly ovate, lower 2 teeth narrower and acute. Nutlets c. 1 mm. - An isolated, E. Mediterranean section whose species are all rare. Until more Turkish material is available, it is difficult to decide whether specific or subspecific status should be given to some of the Turkish taxa. See also Davis in Kew Bull. 1951:113-115(1951).