Limonium melitense
| Limonium melitense | ||||||||||||
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Limonium melitense , habitus |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Limonium melitense | ||||||||||||
| Brullo |
Limonium melitense is a species ofthe leadwort family (Plumbaginaceae). It is exclusively based in Malta .
description
Limonium melitense is a perennial, shrubby plant with a low, branched habit. It is hairless and 8 to 30 centimeters high. The flat, green, lanceolate leaves are 10 to 30 millimeters long and 3 to 7 millimeters wide and rounded to blunt at the outer end. They form a down-to-earth rosette. The foliage usually dries up during flowering.
Flowering time is from summer to autumn. The stems of the inflorescence are upright and branched in many ways, brittle at the nodes , the internodes are 3 to 15 millimeters long and straight to slightly curved. The inflorescence is a terminal panicle , the individual ears are 1 to 4.5 centimeters long. The three to four spikelets per centimeter are two to three, rarely four-flowered. The outer supporting sheet is 1.5 millimeters long and 1.5 millimeters wide, broadly ovoid and provided with a wide white border. The middle supporting sheet is 1.5 millimeters long and 1 millimeter wide, elliptical-egg-shaped and provided with a white border. The inner support sheet is 5 to 5.5 millimeters long, 2.5 millimeters wide and has a wide, transparent edge. The cup is 5.5 to 6 millimeters long; the limbus is longer than the tube. The tapering calyx lobes are 0.5 millimeters long. The crown is light blue-violet in color and around 8 millimeters long.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 18.
distribution
The species, which is exclusively native to Malta, colonizes coastal locations with salty soils, cliffs and rocky locations. It is common.
Systematics and botanical history
The species was first described in 1988 by Salvatore Brullo based on a collection from 1985. The species epithet from the Latin word for Malta refers to the homeland of the species.
proof
- ↑ a b c d Hans Christian Weber, Bernd Kendzior: Flora of the Maltese Islands - A Field Guide , 2006, ISBN 3-8236-1478-9 , p. 122
- ^ A b c d Salvatore Brullo: Miscellaneous Notes on the Genus Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) In: Willdenowia, Vol. 17, H. 1/2, 1988, p. 13
