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Acantholimon afanassievii

Description

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Family Plumbaginaceae

Shrublets , shrubs , or herbs. Stems striate or reduced to a caudex . Leaves simple , alternate or basal, sessile or petiolate but petiole usually indistinct from blade ; stipules absent; leaf blade entire or rarely pinnately lobed , with chalk glands on both surfaces. Inflorescences terminal or axillary , unbranched or branched, spicate , spicate-racemose, subcapitate , capitate, or paniculate , arranged into complanate spikes if branched, all composed of 1--10 or more cymules or helicoid cymes; cymules or helicoid cymes usually known as spikelets , 1--5-flowered; bracts 1 at base of each spikelet; bractlets 1 or 2 at base of each flower. Flowers bisexual , actinomorphic , sessile or very shortly pedicellate . Calyx persistent , hypogynous, tubular to funnelform , 5-ribbed, 5-lobed. Corolla hypogynous, petals connate but sometimes only at base, lobes or segments 5 and twisted. Stamens opposite corolla lobes, hypogynous or inserted at corolla base; anthers 2-locular, dehiscing longitudinally. Pistil 1. Ovary superior, 1-locular. Styles 5, free or connate. Stigmas 5. Ovule 1, pendulous from a basal funicle. Capsules usually enclosed within calyx. Seeds 1 per capsule; embryo straight, surrounded by thin starchy endosperm.

About 25 genera and 440 species: worldwide, main diversity in C Asia and Mediterranean region; seven genera and 46 species (11 endemic) in China.Tse-Hsiang Pen & Rudolf V. Kamelin "Plumbaginaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 15 Page 190. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Genus Acantholimon

Shrublets , usually thorny, pulvinate , often subglobose, many-branched. Leaves borne on current year's branches, crowded, sessile, persistent on old branches after withering; spring leaves at base of current year's branches and similar or different from summer leaves; leaf blade linear , linear-needlelike, or linear subulate, usually very shallowly obdeltate to subcomplanate in cross section , apex usually pointed to awned . Inflorescences borne in axil of spring leaves at base of current year's branches, branched or unbranched; spikes pedunculate , with 2--8 spikelets , arranged in 2 rows , sometimes rachis undeveloped with spike or spikelets axillary ; spikelets 1--5-flowered; bracts distinctly shorter than bractlet of first flower, margin membranous; first bractlet similar to bract, margin broadly membranous. Calyx funnelform or rarely subtubular; tube straight or occasionally basally oblique , inconspicuously herbaceous along ribs and scarious between ribs; limb purple, pink, or white, broad, scarious, 5- or 10-lobed. Corolla slightly exserted from calyx; petals basally slightly connate . Stamens adnate to corolla base. Ovary linear-cylindrical, apex attenuate. Styles 5, free , glabrous ; stigmas depressed capitate. Capsules oblong-filiform.

About 190 species: C and SW Asia, Europe; 11 species in China."Acantholimon". in Flora of China Vol. 15 Page 193. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Taxonomy

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Similar Species

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Members of the genus Acantholimon

There are approximately 413 species in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. acanthobryus · A. acerosum · A. acerosum (Willd.) Boiss. var. acerosum · A. acerosum subsp. brachystachyum · A. acerosum subsp. longibracteolorum · A. acerosum var. acerosum · A. acerosum var. brachystachyum · A. acmostegium · A. aegaeum · A. afanassievii · A. agropyroideum · A. ahangarensis · A. alaicum · A. alatavicum · A. alatavicum var. laevigatum · A. alavae · A. albanicum · A. alberti · A. albertii · A. albocalycinum · A. alexandri · A. alexeenkoanum · A. amoenus · A. anatolicum · A. androsaceum · A. androsaceum var. creticum · A. anisophyllus · A. annae · A. antilibanoticus · A. anzobicum · A. anzobicum var. albiflorum · A. ararati · A. araxanum · A. argyrostachyus · A. aristulatum · A. armenum · A. armenum var. armenum · A. artosense · A. arundoscapum · A. aspadanum · A. asphodelinum · A. assyriacum · A. astragalinum · A. asyriacus · A. atrofuscum · A. atropatanum · A. auganum · A. aulieatense · A. austro-iranicus · A. avanosicum · A. avenaceum · A. azizae · A. bakhtiaricum · A. balansae · A. balchanicum · A. baltanense · A. bashkaleicum · A. birandii · A. blakelockii · A. blandum · A. bodeanum · A. bodeanum subsp. pilosum · A. bonesseae · A. borodini · A. brachyphyllum · A. brachystachyum · A. bracteatum · A. bracteatum var. capitatum · A. brecklei · A. breviscapum · A. bromifolium · A. bromifolius · A. bromifolius var. iranicus · A. bromifolius var. lolioides · A. butkovii · A. cabulicum · A. caesareum · A. calocephalum · A. calverti · A. calvertii · A. calvertii var. glabrum · A. capitatum · A. capitatum subsp. sivasicum · A. carinatus · A. caryophylaceum · A. caryophyllaceum (Prickly Thrift) · A. caryophyllaceum caryophyllaceum · A. caryophyllaceum subsp. parviflorum · A. cataonicum · A. catenatus · A. cephalotes · A. cephalotoides · A. cephalotum · A. chitralicum · A. chitralicus · A. chlorostegium · A. chlorostegius · A. chrysostegius · A. cleistocalyx · A. collare

Bibliography

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More Info

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Notes

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Identifiers

Footnotes

Last Revised: August 29, 2008