Thymelaea Miller

2. Thymelaea Miller View in CoL 1

Evergreen dwarf shrubs, or rarely perennial or annual herbs. Usually dioecious, but often with some hermaphrodite flowers on male and female plants. Leaves small, sessile. Flowers usually yellow, sometimes tinged with green or purple, solitary or in small clusters in the leaf-axils. Hypanthium urceolate or tubular,

more or less petaloid, usually yellow or brown; sepals similar in colour and texture. Style short, lateral. Fruit dry, indéhiscent, usually enclosed in the persistent hypanthium. All European species grow in dry places. Literature: G. Brecher, Ind. Horti Bot. Univ. Budapest. 5: 57-116 (1941). 1 Flowers glabrous 2 Young shoots glabrous 15. dioica 2 Young shoots hairy 3 Leaves with involute margins concealing the tomentose upper surface 10. broterana

3 Leaves flat; upper surface glabrous or hirsute

4 Leaves sparsely hirsute above when young, with long,

straight hairs 12. ruizii

4 Leaves glabrous above, or bearing short, crispate hairs

5 Leaves c. 5 mm wide, elliptical; hypanthium 2-5 mm

13. subrepens

5 Leaves 1-5-3-5 mm wide, oblong; hypanthium 4-5 mm

14. tinctoria

1 Flowers hairy (sometimes only sparsely) 6 Annual; flowers greenish or white 17. passerina 6 Perennial; flowers yellow or reddish-brown 7 Leafy stems annual, arising from a short, woody stock

8 Leaves 15-30 x 4-8 mm 1. sanamunda

8 Leaves 6-14 x 1-4 mm 2. pubescens

7 Leafy stems woody, persistent

9 Mature leaves glabrous

10 Flowers in clusters of 2-5; fruit glabrous 4. tartonraira

10 Flowers solitary or in pairs; fruit pubescent

11 Leaves less than 1 mm wide 8. coridifolia

11 Most of the leaves at least 1 mm wide

12 Young shoots glabrous 15. dioica

12 Young shoots pubescent 11. calycina

9 Mature leaves hairy, at least on one surface

13 Leaves imbricate, appressed, white-tomentose on adaxial surface, more or less glabrous on abaxial surface

3. hirsuta

13 Leaves about equally hairy on both surfaces

14 Leaves and young shoots hirsute, with long, straight,

patent hairs 16. villosà

14 Leaves and young shoots sericeous or tomentose, with appressed or intricate hairs

15 Sepals triangular, acute

16 Most of the leaves borne on short lateral shoots 5. nitida

16 Most of the leaves on long shoots; short lateral shoots few or absent 4. tartonraira

15 Sepals broadly elliptical, obtuse

17 Stems procumbent; leaves less than 1-5 mm wide;

flowers solitary 9. procumbens

17 Stems decumbent to erect; leaves more than 1-5 mm

wide; flowers usually in clusters

18 Leaves sericeous, usually more than 10 mm long

4. tartonraira

18 Leaves villous to tomentose, not more than 10 mm

long

19 Flowers subtended by ovate bracts; hypanthium

c. 4 mm 6. myrtifolia

19 Flower-clusters without bracts; hypanthium

6-5-8 mm 7. lanuginosa