Launaea capitata (Spreng.) Dandy, 3: 40 (1956) (syn: Chondrilla capitata Sieber ex DC.; Launaea glomerata Hook.f.; Lomatolepis glomerata Cass.; Microrhynchus glomeratus Jaub. & Spach; Sonchus capitatus Spreng.; Zollikoferia glomerata Boiss.);
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Canary Islands (Fuerteventura, Lanzarote) to NW. India: Afghanistan, Algeria, Canary Is., Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Gulf States, India, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Sudan, Tunisia, Yemen as per POWO;
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Cassini in Dict. Sc. Nat. xlviii. 422 (Lomatolepis) ; glabrous, leaves sessile sinuate-lobed pinnatifid or runcinate, lobes usually short rounded toothed, teeth cartilaginous white, flowering branches spreading sparingly dichotomously branched, heads 1/2-2/3 in. campanulate clustered at the ends of the branches, invol. bracts with very broad membranous margins outer large broadly ovate, inner oblong, base hardened in fruit, achenes corky thickly ribbed outer 2-winged inner columnar shorter than the soft straight white pappus. Lomatolepis glomerata, Cass. ; DC. Prodr. vii. 180. Microrhynchus glomeratus, Jaub, & Spach Ill. Pl. Orient, iii. t. 275. Zollikoferia glomerata, Boiss. Fl. Orient, iii. 826. Sonchus capitatus, Spr, Syst. Voy. iii. 650.
The PUNJAB ; Stewart. SCINDE ; Stocks.—DISTRIB. Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Algiers.
Perennial ? Leaves 3-5 by 1-1.1/2 in., lobes or pinnules numerous, close set. Flowering branches stout, strict, usually not exceeding the leaves, naked. Heads broader than in other Indian species, with broader 3-seriate more obtuse invol. bracts, and more numerous flowers ; peduncles short, bracteolate. Achenes 1/6 in., pale yellow ; outer slightly curved, linear-oblong, emarginate at both ends, wings each as broad or broader than the nucleus, which is ventrally and dorsally 5-6-ribbed, wings and ribs minutely crenulate ; inner achenes often narrower and imperfect ; pappus 1/4 in. long, deciduous, hairs subequal with no inner stronger ones.
(Attributions- IBIS Flora (Flora of British India))
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25-06-2021 surajit 04 : Launaea capitata (Spreng.) Dandy:
- Distribution : Canary Islands (Fuerteventura, Lanzarote) to NW. India. (KEW)
- FBI entry : Launaea glomerata
- Description (source : won’t reveal) : (1) Annual, procumbent to ascending, stems upto 15(40) cm. and with a few flowering branches (mostly short) in upper part. with more or less erect flowers. (2) rosette leaves oblong to spathulate, subentire to sinuate-dentate, margins white-cartilagineously denticulate.
- Desert habitats
- fl. & fr. mainly Jan to May
- India : Haryana (1966)
- Pictures : check KEW
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References: POWO Catalogue of Life The Plant List Ver.1.1 GCC IPNI Pan India Bouquets IBIS Flora (Flora of British India) Cichorieae Portal Sharjah Research Academy