Limonium chrisianum Brullo & Guarino (2000: 269)

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

46. Limonium chrisianum Brullo & Guarino (2000: 269) ( Fig. 46 )

Type:― GREECE. Crete: Hrisi ( Ierapetra , Creta), 25 August 1996, Brullo & Guarino s.n. (holotype CAT!, isotypes CAT!, Herb. Erben!) .

Description: —Plant perennial, glabrous, forming a sub-shrub 15–35 cm tall, with few erect stems and a robust tap-root. Caudices 5–25 mm long, branched; leaves in rosettes at apices. Leaves fleshy, glaucous, more or less flat, rugose, 15–40 mm long and 4–7 mm broad, narrowly spathulate, apex rounded, mucronulate, with one central nerve, gradually tapering into the petiole. Stems glaucous, 10–35 cm long, slightly flexuous, rugose, branching begins above the lower third of the stems. Inflorescence trullate in outline. Sterile branches absent. Fertile branches 1–5 cm long, slightly arched to straight, directed obliquely upwards, forming branching angles of 45°–70°, undivided or loosely branched. Spikes 10–40 mm long, straight to arched, inserted obliquely. Spikelets 6.6–7.2 mm

LIMONIUM (PLUMBAGINACEAE)

Phytotaxa 240 (1) © 2016 Magnolia Press • 107 108 • Phytotaxa 240 (1) © 2016 Magnolia Press

BRULLO & ERBEN LIMONIUM (PLUMBAGINACEAE)

Phytotaxa 240 (1) © 2016 Magnolia Press • 109 long, composed of 2–4 flowers, densely arranged with 3–5 per cm. Outer bract 1.8–2.4 mm long and 1.8–2.2 mm broad, triangular-ovate, obtuse; bract margin broadly membranous; central part slightly fleshy, sometimes only at the base, acuminate. Middle bract membranous, 1.9–2.3 mm long and 1.3–1.7 mm broad, oblong to obovate-elliptic, rounded. Inner bract 4.8–5.2 mm long and 3.2–3.6 mm broad, obovate-elliptic, rounded; bract margin broadly membranous; central part fleshy, 3.7–3.9 mm long and 1.9–2.1 mm broad, oblong-elliptic, acuminate, forming a triangular tip, 0.7–0.8 mm long, not reaching the upper margin. Calyx 4.7–5.2 mm long, exceeding the inner bract by 1.3–1.5 mm; calyx tube more or less sparsely long hairy, with 5 ribs ending at the base of lobes; calyx lobes ca. 0.6 × 1.0 mm, broadly semi-elliptic. Corolla lilac.

Distribution: —Restricted to Chrysi, a small island near the southeast coast of Crete ( Fig. 92D ).

Habitat: —Calcareous rocky coast.

Taxonomic remarks: — L. chrisianum is related to L. cornarianum , from which it differs by having rounded leaves, and bigger spikelets and calyces.

Specimens examined: —See types.

Figures

FIGURE 46. Limonium chrisianum Brullo & Guarino. A) Habit; B) Spikelet; C) Outer bract; D) Middle bract; E) Inner bract; F) Calyx; G) Calyx lobes; H) Leaves. (Drawn from “Hrisi, Brullo & Guarino s.n, CAT, Herb. Erben”).

FIGURE 92. (Map 7) Geographical distribution of Limonium calliopsium (A); L. carpathum (B); L. chersonesum (C); L. chrisianum (D); L. contractum (E); L. cornarianum (F); L. hierapetrae (G); L. sougiae (H).