Lomelosia olivieri (Coult.) Greuter & Burdet
For people
- Eaten by people
- Unknown
- Toxic to people
- Unknown
For livestock
- Grazed by livestock
- Not grazed
- Toxic to livestock
- Unknown
Edibility and safety notes
No reliable information on whether people can eat this small desert scabious was found, and nothing on poisoning either; treat it as not edible. The Omani plant book states that livestock do not graze it; this could not be confirmed from a second source.
This guide is a hobby project, not expert advice. Never eat a wild plant, or feed it to animals, on the strength of this page alone. Read the disclaimer
Description
An annual herb 10-60 cm tall, covered with grey hairs, with ascending stems branched from the base. Leaves are simple, opposite, sessile, elliptic and entire, 2-7 cm long and 2-4 mm wide. The flowers are all of the same size and are gathered in a small head about 1 cm across, borne on a long, slender, stiff stalk up to 10 cm long, with 4-6 ovate-oblong bracts shorter than the flowers. Each flower is surrounded by a small, almost spherical cup (epicalyx) with eight triangular pits and appressed hairs, topped by a short membranous crown with 20-24 nerves; the calyx bears five rough or almost feathery bristles 6-8 mm long that far exceed the crown. The corolla is purple, hairy outside, with five fused lobes. Stamens 4. The ovary is inferior and one-seeded; the fruit is an achene. Flowers in spring.
Habitat
Sandy soils.
Distribution
From Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Sinai and Iraq through the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and northern Oman), Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to Central Asia and Xinjiang.
Pastoral value
Not grazed by livestock, according to the Omani plant book.
Sources
- كتاب نباتات عمان
- GBIF backbone — Lomelosia olivieri (Coult.) Greuter & Burdet (name match) — api.gbif.org
- GBIF — Lomelosia olivieri distributions (WCVP, Catalogue of Life) — api.gbif.org
- GBIF — Lomelosia olivieri synonyms — api.gbif.org
- GBIF — Lomelosia olivieri specimen records from Oman — api.gbif.org
- Wikipedia — Lomelosia (genus) — en.wikipedia.org