Phlomis
herba-venti Aggregate
This
aggregate of similar plants consists of P. herba-venti,
P. pungens and P. taurica. Because the aggregate covers
such a diverse area, with many of the subspecies confined
to a smaller area, they have not been properly correlated
and their botanical descriptions listed below overlap, and
need further revision.
Phlomis
herba-venti Linnaeus
Sp. Pl.
:586 (1753)
Illust.:
Bot. Mag. t. 2449 (1824)
Sweet,
British Flower Garden :74 (1831-8)
herba-venti
means herb of the wind, because of the way entire plants
sever at the base in the autumn and then behave as tumble
weeds. P. taurica behaves likewise.
The
only European habitat known to Linnaeus was the Narbonne
area of south France. [The plant was known as P. narbonensis
by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708)].
Widely grown since the time of Gerard and grown at the Chelsea
Physic Garden by Philip Miller (1768). Susceptible to temperatures
of more than 10° (C) frost.
Phlomis
herba-venti Linnaeus
subsp. herba-venti
Distribution
in the wild:
France, Spain,
Portugal, Sicily, Italy
Flowering: July
to September in the wild
Herbaceous
perennial 30-75 cm in height. Stems much branched. Leaves
lanceolate or ovate, serrate at margin with a cordate or
truncate base; a good mid-green and thin, 6-18 × 3-6 cm;
petiolate. Floral leaves ovate or lanceolate, entire, crenate
or serrate margins, 4–10 × 1- 3 cm; shortly petiolate or
sessile. Two to five verticillasters per stem, some 2 -5
cm apart. 6 -17 flowered. Calyces 8 -15 mm long with teeth
to 5 mm. Bracteoles linear 10-20 mm. Corolla purple 15 –
20 (–25) mm. Hardy to -10°C.
Phlomis
herba-venti Linnaeus subsp. kopetdaghensis
(Knorring) K.H. Rechinger
Flora
Iranica 150:309 (1982)
Synonym:P.
kopetdaghensis Knorring
Distribution
in the wild:Iran,
former USSR
Bracteoles
connate in twos, 12-15 mm, covered in monoradial hairs (the
long ray 5 times the length of the others). Calyx teeth
spreading, erect, longest 4-5 mm.
Phlomis
herba-venti Linnaeus subsp. lenkoranica (Knorring) K.H. Rechinger
Flora
Iranica 150:309 (1982)
Synonym:P.
lenkoranica Knorring
Distribution
in the wild:
Iran,
former USSR
Bracteoles
connate in threes 7-9 mm long, covered with monoradial hairs
(the elongated ray 10-15 times the length of the others).
Calyx teeth spreading horizontally, 3 and 8 mm long.
Phlomis
pungens
Willdenow
Sp. Pl.
3:21 (1800)
Illust.: Sweet, British Flower Garden 1:33
(1823-25)
Synonyms:
P.
herba-venti Linnaeus var. tomentosa
Boissier
P. herba-venti
Linnaeus var. pungens (Willdenow) Schmalhausen
P. herba-venti L.
subsp. pungens (Willdenow) Maire ex De Fillipps
Distribution
in the wild:
Spain, Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia, Israel & Jordan, Lebanon & Syria,
Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, former Yugoslavia, Iran,
Iraq , Crimea and former USSR, in steppe, pastures, fallow
fields, roadsides, dry stony slopes, Pinus forest,
low foothills, gullies, dry steppes and scrub at 250-2400
m.
Flowering
in the wild:May-August
pungens
means terminating in a sharp
point and applies to the bracteoles.
P.
pungens is
similar to P. herba-venti, but differs in the following
respects:
1) the presence of hirsute hairs on the stems of P.
herba-venti (easily visible to the naked eye), and
their absence in the case of P. pungens. (has a
fine stellate-tomentose indumentum)
2) the presence, in P. herba-venti, of a stellate
hair type which has single hairs up to 3 mm long on the
lower surfaces of leaves, bracts, bracteoles and outer calyx
surface. These are absent in P. pungens.
Non-glandular
herbaceous perennial to 70 cm. Stellate-tomentose hairs
to 0.1 mm, ± a secondary indumentum of undivided , articulate
1–3 mm hairs. Cauline leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate,
cuneate at base, denticulate or serrate, rarely entire at
margin, 5–13 × 1–6 cm; petiole to 10 cm. Floral leaves sessile
to shortly petiolate, lanceolate or oblong, acute or acuminate.
Two to seven whorls 2–6 (–15) flowered. Bracteoles subulate,
11–17 mm, stellate-tomentose, ± undivided hispid hairs.
Calyx 8-15 mm, stellate-tomentose, ± undivided hispid hairs.
Corolla purple or pink, 15–20 (–25) mm. Nutlets hairless.
P.
pungens Willdenow var. pungens
Stellate
hairs to 0.1 mm; longer undivided hairs absent or scattered.
Calyx teeth half as long as tube or longer. Hardy to -15°C.
P.
pungens Willdenow var. laxiflora Velenovsky
Sitz-Ber.
Böhm. Ges. Wiss. 1887:460 (1888)
Stellate
hairs to 0.1 mm; longer undivided hairs absent or scattered.
Calyx teeth one third to one fifth as long as tube.
P.
pungens Willdenow var. hirta Velenovsky
Fl.
Bulg. Suppl. 232 (1898)
Stellate hairs to 0.1 mm;
undivided , articulate hairs present, 1–3 mm. Bracteoles
and calyx with ± numerous undivided hairs to 2 mm.
P.
pungens Willdenow var. seticalycina (Nábelek) Huber-Morath
Bauhinia
1(2):119 (1958)
Synonym:
P. seticalycina Nábelek
Bracteoles
and calyx with very dense indumentum of undivided hairs
to 3 mm. Leaves almost hairless above; stem with sparse
undivided hairs.
P.
pungens Willdenow var. hispida Huber-Morath
Bauhinia
1(2):118 (1958)
Leaves
stellate-tomentose above; stem with dense indumentum of
undivided hairs , especially near nodes.
Phlomis
taurica Hartwiss ex Bunge
Mém. Acad. Sc. Pétersb. 7 sér. 21, 1:77 (1873)
Synonym:P.
herba-venti f. euxina
Wassiljew
Distribution
in the wild:
Crimea and Caucasus,
on stony slopes and scrub.
Flowering
in the wild: June-August
taurica
means Taurian or of Crimea.
This
is here considered as part of a P. herba-venti aggregate.
A very beautiful plant forming a globe of flowers. The flower
buds initially look as if they may be white, but open to
a rich mauve. As the stems, leaves and flowers dry out,
the whole plant severs at the base and behaves as a tumble
weed, blowing away as a complete structure in the wind.
It would probably therefore be sensible
to have some late flowering bulbs planted beneath it. Hardy
to -15°C
Herbaceous
perennial 40-50 cm. Lower stem leaves ovate-lanceolate,
coarsely dentate at base, upper surface scabrous with scattered
simple and stellate hairs, lower surface greyish-green with
copious stellate and few monoradial hairs, 11-12 × 4-5 cm;
petioles to 4 cm; upper stem leaves oblong-lanceolate, somewhat
crenate at margin, 6-7 × 2-2.5 cm, petioles 1-2 mm. Three
to four distant whorls per candelabra branched stem, 8-12
flowered. Bracteoles adpressed to calyx, 12- 15 mm, covered
in monoradial hairs (elongated ray 10-15 times as long as
others). Calyx obconical, covered in monoradial hairs, the
veins with simple multi-articulate tubercle-based hairs;
calyx teeth subulate, 6-7 mm, erect. Corolla pink. Nutlets
white bearded at apex.
