Asperula stricta
Asperula stricta
Yurt belumotu
Tall to condensed, ± robust, somewhat caespitose semi-shrub, with numerous basal vegetative shoots. Stems numerous, 5-60 cm, erect to ascending, glabrous to hispidulous or minutely greyish-tomentose. Leaves 5-50 x 0.3-1.2 mm, linear to filiform, hyaline mucronate, not aristate, lower crowded, exceeding internodes, upper 1/3-1/7 x internodes. Inflorescence ± interrupted spiciform, with numerous series of verticillasters. Bracts 1.5-7 mm, lanceolate to broadly ovate, entirely green or with ± broad hyaline margin. Calyx sometimes present. Corolla usually pink, rarely greenish- or brownish-yellow, 4-9 mm, hypocrateriform, glabrous, scabrid to ± hispid outside; lobes 3-4 x shorter than tube, oblong-lanceolate to ovate, obtuse to mucronate. Ovary densely papillose to verrucose-hispid, Mericarps 2-3 mm.
1. Plants low, forming loose cushions, with often flexuous stems, to 25 cm; inflorescence nearly unbranched, ± reduced
2. Corolla 7-9 mm, distinctly hypocrateriform, with erect lobes; bracts green; leaves filiform, 8-18 x 0.4-0. 7 mm, glabrous to scabridulous subsp. grandiflora element.)
2. Corolla 4-7 mm, usually infundibular, with lobes ± curved outwards; bracts with hyaline margin; leaves linear, 5-12 x 0.6-1 mm, scabrid to shortly hispid subsp, monticola element. )
1. Plants taller, to c. 60 cm, often robust and ± stiff; inflorescence ± branched and many-flowered
3. Outer bracts free, to 4 x as long as broad, lanceolate, long-acuminate, not denticulate, green; plants usually glabrous, only rarely hispidulous, ± blackening when dried subsp. stricta
3. Outer bracts connate at base, to 3 x as long as broad, often ovate, abruptly acuminate and denticulate, sometimes lanceolate, edenticulate, usually with distinct hyaline margin; plants often ±tomentose, usually not blackening when dried
4. Bracts 1.5-2.5 x as long as broad, ovate and abruptly short-acuminate, ± distinctly denticulate; plant glabrous to ± tomentose subsp.latibracteata
4. Bracts 2-3 x as long as broad, predominantly lanceolate, acuminate, not denticulate; plant ± tomentose subsp, elmaliensis
Distribution of species: Lebanon, Syria.
