Asphodeline Reichenb. Asphodeline lutea, (L.) Reichenb.

6. Asphodeline Reichenb. 2

Glabrous perennial herbs with short, non-bulbous stock and fleshy roots. Leaves linear, alternate, with wide, scarious, sheathing base. Flowers numerous, yellow or white, in a dense terminal raceme; bracts persistent, scarious, each subtending 1—3(—5) flowers. Pedicels articulated. Perianth with a very short tube and narrow, patent, 3-veined segments. Stamens and style curved downwards, the stamens unequal; filaments glabrous, dilated at the base; anthers dorsifixed, introrse. Fruit a loculicidal capsule; seeds 6.

1 Flowers white 3. taurica 1 Flowers yellow

2 Stem leafy throughout; bracts c. 25 x 10 mm 1. lutea 2 Stem leafy only in lower part; bracts not more than 15x3 mm

2. libumica

1. A. lutea (L.) Reichenb. , FI. Germ. Excurs. 116 (1830).

Stem 40-80 cm, stout, erect, entirely covered by sheathing leafbases. Lower leaves up to 35 cm x 1-5—3(—5) mm, narrowly linear, recurved, the upper shorter and suberect. Raceme 10-20 cm. Bracts 20-30 x 8-12 mm, ovate, cuspidate. Pedicels c. 20 mm, articulated near the middle. Perianth-lobes 20-25 x 4-7 mm, greenish-yellow. Capsule 10 mm, globose; seeds 4-5 mm, trigonous, black. 2« = 28. Stony ground and dry grassland. Balkan peninsula and Aegean region, extending to Istra and S.E. Romania; C. & S. Italy, Sicilia. Al Bu Cr Gr It Ju Rm Si Tu.