Cerastium ligusticum  Viv.

Family: Caryophyllaceae
Flowering Time: Mar-May.

General Appearance

Cerastium ligusticum Viv., it is an annual herb, erect, up to 30 cm tall. Stem with fine glandular hairs and few, simple eglandular hairs, branches ascending, articulate. Leaves sub spathulate and shortly petioled (basal) or elliptical-oblong and sub vaginate (cauline), 12-27 x 6-8 mm, obtuse-apiculate, hairy. Flowers many in lax dichasial cymes, c. 10 mm, across, white. Bracts lanceolate, green or scarious at most 1/4 of their length and margins. Pedicels much exceeding the sepals, deflexed in fruit. Sepals 5, ovate-lanceolate, 3-8 mm long, scarious margined, obtuse, densely glandular hairy outside. with or without a bunch of simple eglandular hairs usually not at the apex. Petals 5, obovate, one and half to twice as long as sepals, 2-fid al the apex to c. 33% of their length, glabrous. Stamens 5-10, as long as sepals, filaments glabrous; anthers ovate-oblong, c. 1 mm long, yellow. Ovary ovoid, glabrous, sub sessile; styles 5, filiform, divergent. Capsule straw coloured, slightly longer than sepals, dehiscing by 10 apical, revolute margined teeth. Seeds ovoid-reniform, c. 0.5-0.9 mm long, brown, sharply and minutely tuberculate.

Life Form

Th

Phytochoria

MED. The native range of this species is Corse to Malta.

Distribution in Libya

Al-Jafarah Plain:  Reported from Tripoli by Pampanini, Maire and Keith

Benghazi Plain:  Reported from Benghazi by Pampanini, Maire and Keith

Notes

Introduced in Libya, it is probably cultivated in gardens in the littoral zone. The collections cited by Pampanini, Maire and Keith, are perhaps spread from gardens. I have not found a recent record of this species in Libya so far.

This species is accepted:  https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:152373-1

Link of images:   https://www.actaplantarum.org/flora/flora_info.php?id=500705 , https://dryades.units.it/Roma/index.php?procedure=taxon_page&id=705&num=5903

First: Encyclopedia Flora of Libyan:

Jafri, S.M.H. & El-Gadi, A. (1978) Flora of Libya, Caryophyllaceae Vol. (59) Department of Botany, Al-Faateh Univ., Tripoli, Libya. Page. 41.

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

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