SERPENTINICUM var. SERPENTINICUM

Synonym : Rosularia serpentinica var. serpentinica

Distribution : South-western Turkey; serpentine endemic, 1500 - 2200 m.

Description (according to IHSP, 2003) :

Caudex absent but with ± thickened taproots.

Rosettes semiglobular, 1- 3 cm in diameter, commonly offsetting and forming compact clumps.

Leaves obovate-oblong, fairly fleshy, 0.6 - 1.5 cm, dark sea-green above, sometimes with bluish hue but not glaucous, apically and marginally tinged purplish, papery and ochre when dry, glabrous, apically with a conspicuous hydathode.

Inflorescences reduced terminal thyrses, 5- to 17-flowered, 5 - 8 cm, basally imbricately leafy, glandular-hairy.

Flowers 11 -13 mm, narrowly campanulate, outer parts densely glandular-hairy, petals united for 1/3 – 1/2, keeled, white with purple longitudinal stripes.

Cytology : 2n = 56

Each population of this taxon differs to some extent from others, no doubt due to the isolation caused by the distribution being confined to the higher mountains in south-western Turkey. Only the giant rosettes of var. giganteum merit formal recognition.