Tähkätuulio

Yellowish-green or greyish-woolly annual; stems branched from the base;

leaves 0.5-2 x 0.05-0.2 cm,
linear-lanceolate or narrowly linear,
woolly on both surfaces or lower surface glabrous to glabrescent,
the margins involute,
the apex acute; capitula 2-3 in the leaf-axils,
c. 3.5 mm,
subsessile,
forming a dense spicate inflorescence,
intermixed with leaves; phyllaries 3-4-seriate,
1-3x1 mm,
broadly ovate to lanceolate,
with scarious margin; outer phyllaries golden-yellow or whitish,
ending in a spinule 0.5-1.5 mm; female florets longer than the bisexual florets; achenes 0.5-0.6 x 0.25 mm;

pappus c. 1.5 mm,
of bristles plumose at the apex.

Libyan Desert (Location: Cairo-Alex Road).

Sinai,
Sinai,
Sinai,
Egypt,
Egypt,
Egypt,
Egypt

Canary Islands,
Mediterranean region,
southwest Asia.

Annual.

Annual

Height: 3-15 cm

Annual, (1-) 5-10 (-12)cm high, often branched from the base, stem and branches forming a dense globular to cylindric inflorescence from near the base or in the upper part. Leaves appressed tomentose to sericeous-tomentose, glabrescent beneath, often with adhering sand-grains, 6-20 x c. 1.2 mm with wider sheathlike base, the margins more or less involute. Capitula in groups, congested on small lateral branches, overtopped by the leaves. Involucre 3-4 mm long; phyllaries, hyaline, brownish to stramineous, apiculate, the inner with a thickened yellowish mid-rib, median and inner fertile and subtending a single female florets each. Disc florets numerous, bisexual, narrowly tubular with indistinct teeth. Cypselas brown, 0.5-0.6 mm long, obovoid; pappus (only in. the bisexual florets) of easily deciduous bristles, plumose in the upper part, c. 1.5 mm long.

Distribution: Canary Island, southern Spain to N Africa through Middle East to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. A fairly common desert plant, grows in sand.

Fl.Per.: February-September.

A fairly common desert plant. Ifloga spicata is polymorphic in habit concerning characters like height of the plant, degree of branching, density of inflores¬cence and indumentum. Several subspecies have been described by Chrtek from Egypt. But as many of these characters are influenced by the environment, hence a more thorough study of the species in its entire range of distribution is necessary before recognizing infraspecific taxa.

Gnaphalium cauliflorum Desf., Fl. Atl. 2: 267. 1799.

Ifloga spicata là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Cúc. Loài này được (Forssk.) Sch.Bip. mô tả khoa học đầu tiên.