Flora

Heliotropium hirsutissimum Weber

Family: Boraginaceae

Flowering Time: Apr-Jun.

General Appearance

Heliotropium hirsutissimum Weber ̸ Heterotypic Synonyms: Heliotropium villosum Willd., it is an annual herb, up to 10-40 cm, with erect or ascending branches, clothed with long, erect or patent dense yellowish green hairs. Leaves ovate or elliptic, 20-50 x 10-28 mm, entire, cuneate or rounded at base, acute to obtuse, with up to 35 mm long petiole. Scorpoid cyme single or in pairs, the lateral or terminal on distinctly peduncled. Flowers yellow-white, sweet scented. Calyx 3-4 mm long, lobes villous, linear oblong, reaching only up to the base of corolla tube. Corolla 5-8 mm with a limb of 4-8 mm in diameter, hairy outside with 5 distinct scales inside. Stamens inserted near the base of corolla tube; anthers sub sessile. c. 1 mm long. Stigma hardly conical, cap-shaped. pubescent; style c. 0.5 mm long. Nutlets 4, tuberculate, glabrous, c. 1.5 mm long.

Life Form

Phytochoria

MED. The native range of this species is Central & S. Greece to E. Medit.

Distribution in Libya

Al-Jafarah Plain: Sabrata 2008

Benghazi Plain: Wadi El Ghattara 2010

Al-Jabal Al-Akhder: From Baida, towards Shahat, near cult. field. Shahat, roadside waste ground 1972

Notes

Wild in Libya.

Link of images: https://flora.org.il/en/plants/helhir/, https://www.gbif.org/species/4065251

For more information

https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:116913-1, https://www.ipni.org/n/116913-1, https://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0001327744, https://www.gbif.org/species/4065251, https://africanplantdatabase.ch/en/nomen/specie/165176/heliotropium-hirsutissimum-grauer, https://www.cretanflora.com/heliotropium_hirsutissimum.html, https://www.florafauna.life/flora-lebanon/heliotropium-hirsutissimum, https://flora.org.il/en/plants/helhir/, https://botany.cz/cs/heliotropium-hirsutissimum/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliotropium_hirsutissimum

Bibliographic References

First: Encyclopedia Flora of Libyan:

Jafri, S. M. H. & El-Gadi, A. (1979) Flora of Libya, Boraginaceae Vol. (68) Department of Botany, Al-Faateh Univ., Tripoli, Libya. Page. 59- under: Heliotropium hirsutissimum Grauer

Second: Researches and PhD theses, master theses, Sorted by Newest:

El-Rabiai, G.T., Al tira, F.M., Lamlom, S.H. (2010) Preliminary Checklist for the Flora of Wadi El Ghattara in Libya. Garyounis University Press Journal of Science and Its Applications Vol. 4, No. 1, pp 39-47, December 2010. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Wz8jpkIAAAAJ&hl=ar, https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ALTsoucAAAAJ&hl=en, https://journals.uob.edu.ly/index.php/sjuob/issue/view/71

Checklist for the Flora of Wadi El Ghattara in Libya. 2010

El-Yafour, L. A. (2008) Taxonomic study of the vegetation properties of Sabratha city Master Thesis. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Al-Zawiya University, Libya. (In Arabic).

PAMPANINI, R. (1931). Prodromo della Flora Cirenaica. -: 374 – under: Heliotropium villosum Willd. https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/records/item/14218-prodromo-della-flora-cirenaica