Limonium brevipetiolatum Artelari & Erben (1986: 507)

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

10. Limonium brevipetiolatum Artelari & Erben (1986: 507) ( Fig. 10 )

Type:― GREECE. Ionian Islands: Ins. Levkada: In oppido Levkada , in litoreis, 7 September 1976, Artelari 102 (holotype UPA, isotypes M!, Herb. Erben!) .

Description: —Plant perennial, glabrous, forming a sub-shrub 15–90 cm tall, with few erect stems and a thick tap-root. Caudices 1.5–5.0 cm long, branched, leaves in rosettes at apices. Leaves fleshy, green, 10–30 cm long and 3–7 cm broad, oblanceolate to elliptic, apex obtuse to rounded, mucronate, flat, with one central nerve and numerous pinnately branching lateral nerves, gradually tapering into the petiole. Stems 15–60 cm long, straight to slightly flexuous, branched in the upper half or upper third. Inflorescence corymbose. Sterile branches absent or only very few, 2–5 cm long. Fertile branches 5–25 cm long, straight to slightly curved, obliquely directed upwards to spreading, forming branching angles of 45°– 70°, branched in the upper half. Spikes 10–65 mm long, straight to slightly arched, erect to directed obliquely upwards. Spikelets 6.2–9.0 mm long, composed of 2–3 flowers, remotely to densely arranged with 2–5 per cm. Outer bract 2.0– 2.4 mm long and 1.7–2.2 mm broad, triangular-ovate, acute; bract margin broadly membranous; central part slightly fleshy, acuminate. Middle bract membranous, 2.3–3.0 mm long and 1.6–1.8 mm broad, narrowly ovate to elliptic, asymmetrically emarginate. Inner bract 3.8–4.5 mm long and 3.0– 3.4 mm broad, obovate to elliptic, round to obtuse, emarginate; bract margin broadly membranous; central part fleshy, 3.0– 3.6 mm long and 1.4–1.6 mm broad, oblong to narrowly—obovate, on the upper end asymmetrically dentate. Calyx (4.8–) 5.2–5.8 mm long, exceeding the inner bract by 1.2–1.5 mm; calyx tube densely shortly hairy, with 5 ribs ending below the base of lobes; calyx lobes ca. 0.8 × 1.0 mm, triangular, with smaller intermediate lobes. Corolla blue-violet.

Chromosome number: —2n = 54 (Artelari 1984a, b; Erben in Artelari & Erben 1986).

Distribution: — Ionian Islands of Kerkyra, Lefkada, Kefalonia and Zakynthos, and along the western coast of the Peloponnese ( Fig. 91A ).

Habitat: —Salt marshes.

Taxonomic remarks: — L. brevipetiolatum belongs to the L. narbonense group. It differs from the other species in this group by having larger spikelets and a hexaploid chromosome number.

Specimens examined: — GREECE. Ionian Islands: Cephalonien, Schimper s.n. (M); Insel Kerkyra (Korfu), sumpfige Stelle an der Küstenstrasse bei Ipsos, August 1970, Poelt s.n. (GZU); Ins. Kerkyra. In ditione pagi Kouloura, in maritimis, 10 July 1978, R. Artelari 226 (UPA, Herb. Erben); Ins. Kerkyra, In ditione pagi Kassiopi, in saxosis maritimis, 10 August 1978, R. Artelari 224 (UPA, Herb. Erben); Ins. Kerkyra: Ad locum Pyrgi, in lapidosis, 10 August 1978, R. Artelari 227 (UPA, Herb. Erben); Ins. Kerkyra: Ad locum Alykes, prope pagum Levkimi, in paludosis maritimis, 16 August 1978, R. Artelari 228 (UPA, Herb. Erben); Flora Hellenica no. 500, Ins. Kerkyra: In ditione „Limni Korission“, in paludosis, 30 July 1982, Georgiou 500 (UPA, Herb. Erben); Ins. Zakynthos: Ad sinum Alykes, in saltis, 9 September 1978, R. Artelari 218 (UPA, Herb. Erben).— Peloponnese: Messenias, Felsküste bei Agios Nikolaos, 21 August 1973, Grau s.n. (M); Messina, Eparh. Pilia: Ad sinum Voidhokoilia (inter Petrohori et Paleokastro Navarinou), 0 m. In depressis salsuginosis, 4 October 1979, Greuter17270 (Herb. Greuter); Achaia, sandig-sumpfige Flächen am Strand südlich Kalogria, 27 June 1986, Erben & Lippert s.n. (M, Herb. Erben); L. Koumpli-Sovantzi: Kaiafas lagoon, 24 September 1988, Koumpli-Sovantzi 3600 (B).

Figures

FIGURE 10. Limonium brevipetiolatum Artelari & Erben. A) Habit; B) Spikelet; C) Outer bract; D) Middle bract; E) Inner bract; F) Calyx; G) Calyx lobes. (Drawn from “Agios Nicolaos, Grau s.n., M).

FIGURE 91. (Map 6) Geographical distribution of Limonium brevipetiolatum (A); L. bellidifolium (B); L. compactum (C); L. hirsuticalyx (D); L. microcycladicum (E); L. oligotrichum (F); L. pagasaeum (G).