Limonium aphroditae Artelari & Georgiou (1999: 401)

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

74. Limonium aphroditae Artelari & Georgiou (1999: 401) ( Fig. 74 )

Type :— GREECE. Ionian Isles : Island of Kithira, Limnaria bay, 1.7 km NW of Moni Mirtidion, on calcareous maritime rocks; alt. 0–5 m, 36° 13´N, 22° 55´E, 7 July 1997, Artelari & Georgiou 1500 (holotype UPA, isotypes UPA, W!, Herb. Erben!) .

Description: —Plant perennial, glabrous, forming a sub-shrub 30–50 cm tall, with several more or less erect stems and a robust tap-root. Caudices 20–50 mm long, branched, densely spirally leafy in the upper half; living leaves in rosettes at apices. Leaves fleshy, green, flat, 15–45 mm long and 7–18 mm broad, cuneate-spathulate to spathulate, apex obtuse to rounded, sometimes mucronate, retuse, margin revolute, with one central nerve and 2 lateral nerves, gradually tapering into the petiole. Stems rugose, 20–45 cm long, more or less flexuous, slightly constricted at the nodes, branching begins above lower third of the stems; rarely proliferating in axils. Inflorescence rhombic to obtrullate in outline. Sterile branches absent or only 1–2 per stem, 10–20 mm long, straight, undivided. Fertile branches 5–20 cm long, slightly flexuous, straight to slightly curved, directed obliquely upwards, forming branching

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BRULLO & ERBEN LIMONIUM (PLUMBAGINACEAE)

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BRULLO & ERBEN angles of 15°– 40°, normally unbranched. Spikes 10–45 mm long, straight or curved, erect or directed obliquely upwards. Spikelets 4.2–5.3 mm long, composed of 1–3 flowers, densely arranged with 4–7 per cm. Outer bract 1.7–2.0 mm long and 1.7–1.9 mm broad, triangular to triangular-ovate, acute; bract margin broadly membranous; central part slightly fleshy, acuminate. Middle bract membranous, 1.7–2.0 mm long and 1.5–1.6 mm broad, oblong-elliptic, rounded. Inner bract 2.8–3.7 mm long and 3.1–3.7 mm broad, broadly elliptic to broadly obovate-elliptic, rounded; bract margin broadly membranous; central part fleshy, 2.8–3.1 mm long and 1.8–2.0 mm broad, oblong to oblong-obovate, acuminate, forming a triangular tip, 0.7–0.8 mm long, not reaching the upper margin. Calyx 3.7–4.7 mm long, exceeding the inner bract by 1.0– 1.3 mm; calyx tube more or less sparsely long hairy, with 5 ribs ending at the base of lobes; calyx lobes ca. 0.6 × 0.9 mm, semi-elliptic. Corolla pale violet.

Chromosome number: —2n = 27 ( Artelari & Georgiou 2003).

Distribution: — L. aphroditae is endemic to Kythira, an isle of the southern Peloponnese, where it grows exclusively in Limenaria Bay ( Fig. 86F ).

Habitat: —Calcareous rocky coast.

Taxonomic remarks: — L. aphroditae is closely related to L. corinthiacum , but it differs from the latter by having leaves arranged in dense rosettes at apices, and shorter and broader inner bracts.

Specimens examined: — GREECE. Ionian Islands: Kithira , 1 km W Moni Mirtidion, calcareous rocks, 10–30 m, 23 May 1986, Oxselman & Tollsten 1183 (WU); Kithira, Limenaria, litorale roccioso calcareo, 15 June 2004, Brullo & Musarella s.n. (CAT, Herb. Erben) .

Figures

FIGURE 74. Limonium aphroditae Artelari & Georgiou. 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 “Kithira, Limnera, Brullo & Musarella s.n., Herb. Erben, CAT”, spikelet details from “Artelari & O. Georgiou 1500, Herb. Erben”).

FIGURE 86. (Map 1) Geographical distribution of Limonium aegaeum (A); L. samium (B); L. heraionense (C); L. crateriforme (D); L. zacynthium (E); L. aphroditae (F); L. albomarginatum (G).