Asteraceae
Notobasis

Notobasis syriaca (L.) Cass.

First published in G.-F.Cuvier, Dict. Sci. Nat., ed. 2. 25: 225 (1822)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Macaronesia, Medit. to Iran, N. Oman. It is an annual 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
Little-branched herb to 70 cm tall
Morphology Stem
Stem fleshy, arachnoid, green, pale below
Morphology Leaves
Leaves sessile, ± auriculate, expanded at base, elliptic to oblanceolate, lower to 15 × 7 cm, decreasing in size upwards, shallowly lobed, glabrous or sparsely arachnoid-pubescent or scabrid, veins very prominent on underside and excurrent as weak pale spines at lamina margins but strong spines on auricle, upper surface white-marbled along veins
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence of 1-several groups of 1–7 sessile or very shortly pedunculate capitula 18–25 mm in diameter, excluding spines
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts Involucre
Involucre campanulate; outermost phyllaries leaf-like, up to 7 × 4 cm, lamina reduced to a narrow band along prominent veins, which end in strong spines; intermediate phyllaries cartilaginous with a terminal green spine-tipped appendage; inner phyllaries acuminate, with soft spine at apex
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla 15–17 mm long, limb 7–10 mm, 2 long lobes 5–7 mm, 3 short lobes 2.5–3.5 mm; filaments long-papillose
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes 5–7 × 3.5–5 mm, dark brown; pappus 12–14 mm.
Ecology
Rocky mountain slopes, hill slopes on clay with humus, hill wadis, roadsides, ditches in cornfield; alt. 105–2730 m;
Phenology
flowering & fruiting: Apr.–Jun.
Distribution
Quite common in lower mountains and steppe region of Iraq. Spain, Crete, Aegean Is., Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Iran, Azerbaijan. Syrian Thistle (Eng.).
[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