General Appearance
Herniaria hirsuta L., it is an annual, prostrate, branched, hirsute, herb. Stem and branches with 2-4 mm long internodes, with short hairs. Leaves opposite, sessile, covered with stiff short hairs or older ones occasionally marginally ciliate, alternate on flowering shoots, narrowly elliptic-oblong to elliptic, 2-4 mm long and 1-1.25 mm wide, obtuse, margin entire, hirsute. Inflorescence dense leaf opposed, stellate cymose clusters of 6-9 flowers. Flowers green, pentamerous, 1-1.5 mm long, sessile, perigynous, densey covered with short, stiff, spreading hairs, perigynous zone sub glabrous to almost glabrous. Sepals 5, equal or somewhat unequal in older flowers, c. 1 mm long, oblong, obtuse, covered with stiff, whitish spreading hairs, margins membranous. Petals 5, free, filiform, alternate with and shorter than sepals, c. 0.4 mm long. Stamens 3-5, antisepalous, filaments minute; anthers ovoid. Ovary ovoid-subglobose, papillose near the apex; style minute, bilobed with 2 minute stigmas divergent in fruit. Fruit papillose near the apex, scarcely equalling the persistent sepals. Seed minute, ovoid, brown.
Life Form
Phytochoria
Distribution in Libya
Zliten-Misurata Plain: Zliten coast 2022
Jabal Nafusa: Wadi Kaam (Dam & lake) 2022
Marmarica Plateau: From Tobruk to Egyptian Border 1999
Notes
Wild in Libya, medicinal plant.
This species is accepted: https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:434804-1
Link of images: https://www.actaplantarum.org/flora/flora_info.php?id=3731, https://www.florasilvestre.es/mediterranea/Caryophyllaceae/Herniaria_hirsuta.htm, https://www.orchid-nord.com/Flore-France/Caryophyllaceae/Herniaria%20hirsuta/hern-hirs.html, https://www.i-flora.com/en/fact-sheets/search-for-species/art/show/herniaria-hirsuta.html
For more information
https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:434804-1, https://www.ipni.org/n/434804-1, https://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000720684, https://www.gbif.org/species/3085797, https://africanplantdatabase.ch/en/nomen/specie/133833/herniaria-hirsuta-l, https://maltawildflowers.com/CRYO/Herniaria_hirsuta.php, https://www.ksanature.com/plants/herniaria_hirsuta/, https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/herniaria/hirsuta/, https://flora.org.il/en/plants/HERHIR/, https://www.florasilvestre.es/mediterranea/Caryophyllaceae/Herniaria_hirsuta.htm, https://www.orchid-nord.com/Flore-France/Caryophyllaceae/Herniaria%20hirsuta/hern-hirs.html
First: Encyclopedia Flora of Libyan:
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Second: Researches and PhD theses, master theses, Sorted by Newest:
Almushghub, F., Ahmed, D., Sharaf El-Din, A., Shaltout, k. (2022) Vegetation analysis of Wadi Kaam at northwest Libya. Journal of Basic and Environmental Sciences, 9 (2022) 20-37. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357516127_Vegetation_analysis_of_Wadi_Kaam_at_northwest_Libya, https://jbes.journals.ekb.eg/article_372060_558ee8095e2cf97881a8a3cc705aa126.pdf
Vegetation analysis of Wadi Kaam at northwest Libya.2022
El-karnawdy, F.O.M., Abogmiza, A.F.M., Alsouyid, H.M.M., Ajaj. K.A.K. (2022) Floristic composition of Zygophyllum coccineum L. Associates in Zliten coast, Libya. 5th International African conference on current studies. February 2-5, 2022 Cairo, Egypt.
Floristic composition of Zygophyllum coccineum L. Associates in Zliten coast. 2022
Saaed, M.W.B., EL-Barasi, Y.M. & Rahil, R.O. (2021) An updated checklist and quantitative analysis of the Marmarica Plateau flora, in the north-eastern part of Libya. Phytotaxa 509 (1): 001-055. https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/view/phytotaxa.509.1.1
An-updated-checklist-and-quantitative-analysis-of-the-Marmarica-Plateau-flora-مضغوط
EL-Habony, A.M. (1999) Vegetation and flora of a sector along Mediterranean cost of Libya from Tobruk to Egyptian border, M.Sc. Thesis, Botany Department-Faculty of Science-Garyounis University, Benghazi, Libya. (in Arabic).
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