Limonium antipaxorum Artelari, 1984

Brullo, Salvatore & Erben, Matthias, 2016, The genus Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) in Greece, Phytotaxa 240 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

31. Limonium antipaxorum Artelari (1984a: 32 et 1984b: 22) ( Fig. 31 )

Type :― GREECE. Ionian Islands: Ins. Antipaxi: in saxosis calcareis, maritimis, 24 August 1979, Artelari 267 (holotype UPA) .

Description: —Plant perennial, glabrous, forming a sub-shrub 10–35 cm tall, with numerous ascending to erect stems and a robust tap-root. Caudices 5–15 cm long, branched, living leaves in rosettes at apices. Leaves fleshy, rigid, 8–42 mm long and 2–7 mm broad, narrowly spathulate, apex obtuse to rotunda, sometimes slightly emarginate, margin revolute, with one central nerve, gradually tapering into the petiole. Stems slightly articulate, 8–30 cm long, very flexuous, very fragile at the nodes, slightly scabrous, branching frequently begins near the base. Inflorescence corymbose. Sterile branches numerous, slightly articulate, straight to arched, 0.5–3 cm long, mostly unbranched. Fertile branches slender, slightly articulate, 1–5 cm long, slightly arched to straight, reflexed, forming branching angles of 100°–160°, branched. Spikes 10–95 mm long, straight to arched, inserted reflexed to obliquely. Spikelets 6.5–7.5 mm long, composed of 1–2 flowers, remotely arranged with 1–4 per cm, dorsally concave, laterally slightly curved near the base. Outer bract 1.0– 1.4 mm long and 1.3–1.5 mm broad, triangular-ovate, acute; bract margin broadly membranous; central part slightly fleshy, sometimes only at the base, acuminate. Middle bract membranous, 1.2–1.8 mm long and 1.2–1.4 mm broad, elliptic, rounded. Inner bract 3.1–3.8 mm long and 2.1–3.0 mm broad, elliptic, rounded; bract-margin narrowly membranous; central part fleshy, 2.5–3.1 mm long and 2.1–2.3 mm broad, elliptic, acuminate, forming a narrowly triangular tip, 0.6–0.8 mm long, reaching nearly the upper margin. Calyx 4.5–5.2 mm long, exceeding the inner bract by 2–3 mm; calyx tube more or less densely shortly hairy, with 5 ribs ending above the base of lobes; calyx lobes ca. 0.7 × 0.7 mm, narrowly semi-elliptic. Corolla lilac.

Chromosome number: —2n = 18 (Artelari 1984a, b; Erben Li–807, unpubl.).

Distribution: —This species is confined to the Ionian Islands of Antipaxi and Paxi ( Fig. 89B )

Habitat: —Calcareous rocky coast.

Taxonomic remarks: — L. antipaxorum is very similar to L. arcuatum , from which it differs by having smaller leaves and longer spikelets. L. antipaxorum belongs to the L. dictyophorum Tausch group, distributed along the southern coast of the Adriatic Sea ( Croatia and Albania).

Specimens examined: — GREECE. Ionian Island s: Paxi, in saxosis calcareis maritimis prope pagum Lakka, 19 May 1974, Georgiadis 6589 (C); Ins. Paxi: Mogonisi, in rupestribus maritimis, 23 August 1979, R. Artelari 264 (Herb. Erben); Ins. Paxi: in ditione pagi Lakka, in saxosis calcareis maritimis, 23 August 1979, R. Artelari 266 (C, Herb. Erben = Li–807); Paxi a Lakka, rupi calcaree sul mare, 20 August 1999, Bartolo, Brullo, Guarino & Signorello s.n. (CAT); Paxi a Plani, rupi calcaree sul mare, 20 August 1999, Bartolo, Brullo, Guarino & Signorello s.n. (CAT); Isola di Paxi, costa rocciosa meridionale, 14 July 2011, Brullo & Giacalone s.n. (CAT); Isola di Paxi, Lakkos costa rocciosa, 14 July 2011, Brullo & Giacalone s.n. (CAT); Isola di Paxi, costa rocciosa a Nord del porto, 14 July 2011, Brullo & Giacalone s.n. (CAT).

Figures

FIGURE 31. Limonium antipaxorum Artelari. A) Habit; B) Spikelet; C) Outer bract; D) Middle bract; E) Inner bract; F) Calyx; G) Calyx lobes; H) Leaves. (Habit and leaves drawn from “Isola di Paxos, Lakkos, Brullo & Giacalone s.n., CAT”, spikelet details from “R. Artelari 266, Herb. Erben”).

FIGURE 89. (Map 4) Geographical distribution of Limonium arcuatum (A); L. antipaxorum (B); L. cephalonicum (C); L. coronense (D); L. stenotatum (E); L. ithacense (F); L. phitosianum (G); L. parosicum (H); L. palmare (I).