Gundelia tournefortii L.

Ghazanfar, S. A., Edmondson, J. R. & Hind, D. J. N. (Eds). (2019). Flora of Iraq, Volume 6: Compositae.Kew Publishing

Morphology General Habit

Leafy, thistle-like herb to 40(–100) cm, rootstock clothed with remains of old leaves and membranous scales

Morphology Stem

Stems erect, branched, stout, smooth, glabrous or with arachnoid multicellular hairs

Morphology Leaves

Leaves ± lanceolate in outline, pinnatifid to pinnatisect, decurrent, uppermost often somewhat keeled, basal petiolate, up to 42 × 20 cm, cauline sessile, to 36 × 19 cm, acute, base auricled and/or occasionally winging stem for a short distance, auricles and wings spiny-margined, veins conspicuous, raised on both surfaces, white, excurrent in rigid, yellow spines, midrib sometimes purple; margins toothed,  spiny,  ± densely multicellular-hairy between spines, surfaces of leaf glabrous or ± multicellular-hairy

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescence of several capitula clustered together forming a dense compound head, these clusters terminal, solitary, subglobose to ovoid, up to 4.5 cm in diameter, 5–7 cm long, each secondary capitulum up to 2 cm in diameter, subtending bracts scarcely exceeding involucre or with a long apical spine up to 5 cm long, and then much exceeding involucre; phyllaries multiseriate, fused except for tips which are free and spinescent

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets

Central florets hermaphrodite, 7–10(–13) mm long, top of tube minutely pubescent  externally,  lobes narrow, linear, acute, 3–5 × c. 1 mm

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Achene somewhat compressed, subtetragonal, 6 × 3 mm; pappus up to 3.5 mm. Fruiting body (= diseminule) turbinate and fluted to ovoid and smooth, 1.2–1.5 cm long, 7–9 mm in diameter, apical openings horizontal or oblique, fringed with spines of varying length, subsidiary capitula c. 7, becoming woody as achene develops, achene of central primary capitulum surmounted by a tuft of ± fused apical spines, 0.5–7 mm long, or ± unarmed

Ecology

Grassy and stony mountain slopes in the moist steppe region, often associated with coppiced Quercus, also in the dry steppe and subdesert on stony plains and hills, desert flats, along roadsides and as a weed of arable land, on limestone and grey sandstone, clay, sandy loam and gravel; alt. 80–1050(– 2500) m;

Phenology

flowering Mar.-Jun., fruiting: Apr.-Jul.

Distribution

Widespread and locally abundant in the mountain and foothill regions of Iraq, also in the western desert, rare in the Lower Mesopotamian Plain. Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt (rare), Turkey, Iran, Transcaucasia, Afghanistan, Turkmenia (very rare); adventive in Algeria.

Vernacular

Guest (1933) noted that the fleshy rootstock of this plant, given the Kurdish names KAŪB and KANGAR

Note

The fruiting inflorescences of this species behave as a “tumbleweed”, each of the secondary capitula finally dispersing as a one-seeded disseminule. Rawi & Gillett 10577 notes that these inflorescences are dispersed by whirlwinds, and have been seen by Gillett carried high into the air.

Use

Guest (1933) noted that the fleshy rootstock of this plant is sold in the northern markets as a vegetable, while a note on Gillett 10577 states that the young shoots are an excellent vegetable like Asparagus. Rawi & Gillett 7571 also notes that the disseminules are also eaten as nuts after the spines have been singed off, and both these and the young shoots are sometimes sold in Baghdad markets. Meikle (Fl. Cyprus 2: 938, 1985) quotes P.H. Davis’s note that in Cyprus the plant is called SILIFA, and the capitula are eaten like globe artichokes; Kupicha (Fl. Turkey, loc. cit.) observes that on the Anatolian plateau the species is collected and dried in summer, and stacked for winter fodder, while a chewing gum is prepared from the latex and the seeds are used (after drying) for making a drink. Fruits (disseminules) have been used in the recent past as a source of oil. ‘Charred fruits have been found at Neolithic sites in Iraq and Turkey, and are evidence that oil extraction dates back at least 10,000 years’ (Prance & Nesbit, 2005).