Asteraceae
Launaea

Launaea capitata (Spreng.) Dandy

First published in F.W.Andrews, Fl. Pl. Sudan 3: 40 (1956)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Canary Islands (Fuerteventura, Lanzarote) to NW. India. It is a perennial and grows primarily in the subtropical biome.

Descriptions

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

Morphology General Habit
A dwarf rosette herb, tap-rooted, with one or several erect stems or erect stems lacking and capitula at ground level, stems c. 15 (–40) cm long.
Morphology Leaves
Rosete leaves 2–16 × 0.5–5.5 cm, oblong to spatulate, base narrowed, margins white cartilaginous, sharp-toothed,  apices obtuse, glabrous, flowering stem leaves reduced to inconspicuous bracts
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence bearing groups of 3–12 ± sessile capitula
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum
Capitula c. 45-flowered, terminal on ultimate branches, campanulate; involucre 8–12 × 7–10 mm; outer phyllaries 13, ovate, 3–8 mm long, central ⅓ brown and outer ⅔ papery-white, inner 8, lanceolate, broadly white-margined, all phyllaries lengthening in fruit and midribs become hardened
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corollas yellow
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes all similar, whitish, with a corky texture, 4-winged, 4 mm; pappus 6 mm, homomorphic, caducous.
Ecology
In the desert, on sand-hills and dunes, and on sandy gravel soils; alt up to 400 m;
Phenology
flowering & fruiting: (Feb.-) Mar.-Apr.
Distribution
Occasional in the Southern Desert of Iraq. Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Arabia (Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Yemen), Iran, Pakistan.
[FIQ]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Iraq

    • Ghazanfar, S. A., Edmondson, J. R. (Eds). (2013-2019). Flora of Iraq, Volumes 5.1, 5.2 and 6.0. Kew Publishing
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images