Siempreviva de flor blanca

Appearance

It is a perennial plant, generally pluricaule, glabrous. Vine of 3-30 cm. Rosette leaves 40-165 x 15-50 mm, variable in size; limb elliptic to ovate or nearly round, somewhat leathery, with numerous arched lateral veins, with acute to blunt apex with a fine 1-3 mm mucron; petiole 1.5-4.5 mm wide, 3/4-4/4 of the length of the blade. Escape 15-120 cm, ± erect, almost straight; branching usually beginning in the upper half. Inflorescence usually type C, more rarely type A or G, without sterile branches. Branches of the first order up to 35 cm, in a loose bilateral arrangement, from straight to arched, from erect-patent to patent (branching angle 50º-65º), more loosely branched on the outside. Spikes 5-20 mm, dense or arranged in glomeruli, straight to curved. Spikelets 3.5-4 mm, cylindrical to flabelliform, 6-11 per cm, usually contiguous, with 1-7 flowers. External bract 0.8-1.3 x 1-1.7 mm, triangular-ovate, with acute apex; margin ± broadly membranous; central part somewhat fleshy, with apex that almost reaches the margin. Median bract 0.9-1.4 x 0.7-1.2 mm, oblong-obovate to oblong-elliptic, membranous. Inner bract 2.6-3.5 x 2.6-3.6 mm, sometimes wider than long, broadly obovate, with flat-arched to blunt apex, narrowly membranous margin; central part 2-2.7 x 1.9-2.8 mm, fleshy, broadly oblong-obovate, with a 0.4-0.7 mm apex, triangular, not reaching the margin. Flowers 3.5-4.5 mm in diameter. Calyx 2.8-3.3 mm, 0.7 mm longer than the inner bract; tube sparsely to densely hairy; teeth c. 0.3 x 0.8 mm, broadly semi-elliptical; ribs ending before or at the base of the teeth. Petals 4.7-5.7 x 1.5-1.9 mm, wedge-shaped, white. It has a chromosome number of 2n = 16.

Naming

Spanish: Lechuga de mar, siempreviva de flor blanca. Catalan: Trenca olla blanca

Distribution

Endemic to the Mediterranean coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, especially in the Region of Murcia and the provinces of Almería and Alicante. More specifically, it also appears in the south of the Province of Valencia, Albacete and the Balearic Islands.

Status

Locally abundant but listed as vulnerable by the IUCN.

Habitat

Coastal and inland saline habitats.