Heliotropium hirsutissimum

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Heliotropium hirsutissimum
Heliotropium hirsutissinum (Athenes 13).JPG
Inflorescence
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Boraginales
Family: Boraginaceae
Genus: Heliotropium
Species:
H. hirsutissimum
Binomial name
Heliotropium hirsutissimum
Synonyms [1]

Heliotropium villosumWilld.

Heliotropium hirsutissimum, the hairy heliotrope, is a species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae, native to the eastern Mediterranean. [1] (Grauer is listed as the authority by some sources. [2] )

Contents

It contains a number of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. [3]

Description

The plant grows on edges of fields, roads and tracks, and waste ground. It generally has long fine projecting hairs and greyish looking leaves, which inspires its name 'hairy heliotrope', and on maturing the flowering axes extend greatly, becoming long and curvy, the whole plant when large taking on a rather chaotic look. Its flowers are characterised by prominent hairy bulges at the mouth of their yellow throat, the yellow maturing pinkish before withering (iNaturalist photographs). [4]

Distribution

It is native to Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Egypt, Greece, Crete, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Palestine, Turkey (Türkiye), Turkey-in-Europe. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Plants of the World Online (with map)
  2. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. "Heliotropium hirsutissimum Grauer". gbif.org. GBIF Secretariat. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  3. Constantinidis, Theophanis; Harvala, Catherine; Skaltsounis, Alexios L. (1993). "Pyrrolizidine N-oxide alkaloids of Heliotropium hirsutissimum". Phytochemistry. 32 (5): 1335–1337. doi:10.1016/S0031-9422(00)95116-1.
  4. PH Davis (1978). Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, vol. 6, p. 254.