Veronica cymbalaria Bodard - Cyprus

Veronica cymbalaria, the glandular speedwell, is a species of annual herb in the family Plantaginaceae. They have a self-supporting growth form and simple, broad leaves. Individuals can grow to 0.11 m

Veronica is the largest genus in the flowering plant family Plantaginaceae, with about 500 species; it was formerly classified in the family Scrophulariaceae. Taxonomy for this genus is currently being reanalysed, with the genus Hebe and the related Australasian genera Derwentia, Detzneria, Chionohebe, Heliohebe, Leonohebe and Parahebe included by many botanists. Common names include speedwell, bird's eye, and gypsyweed.

The species are herbaceous annuals or perennials, and also shrubs or small trees if Hebe is included. Most of the species are from the temperate Northern Hemisphere, though with some species from the Southern Hemisphere; Hebe is mostly from New Zealand.

The genus name Veronica used in binomial nomenclature was chosen by Carl Linnaeus based on preexisting common usage of the name veronica in many European languages for plants in this group. Such use in English is attested as early as 1572. The name probably reflects a connection with Saint Veronica, whose Latin name is ultimately derived from Greek, Berenice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Mitsero 18/1/2015 by George Konstantinou

Mullein (also known as velvet plant) - Verbascum levanticum I. K. Ferguson - Cyprus

Verbascum, common name mullein  (also known as velvet plant), is a genus of about 360 species of flowering plants in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Karmi 30/12/2014 by George Konstantinou

Tribulus terrestris L. - Τριβόλι - Cyprus

Tribulus terrestris is an annual plant in the caltrop family (Zygophyllaceae) widely distributed around the world, that is adapted to grow in dry climate locations in which few other plants can survive. Its extracts are widely used by body builders.

It is an invasive species in North America. Like many weedy species, this plant has many common names, including goat's-head, bindii, bullhead, burra gokharu, caltrop, small caltrops, cat's-head, devil's eyelashes, devil's-thorn, devil's-weed, puncture vine, puncturevine, and tackweed

Tribulus terrestris is a taprooted herbaceous perennial plant that grows as a summer annual in colder climates

It is native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Old World in southern Europe, southern Asia, throughout Africa, and Australia. It can thrive even in desert climates and poor soil.
A network of fine rootlets arise from the taproot to take advantage of soil moisture, by which the plant can survive in very arid conditions.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Potamia 2/11/2014 by George Konstantinou

Taraxacum holmboei H. Lindb. - Ταράξακο το χολβόειο - Endemic to Cyprus

SEE ALSO - ΛΊΣΤΑ ΕΝΔΗΜΙΚΏΝ ΦΥΤΏΝ ΤΗΣ ΚΎΠΡΟΥ - LIST OF ENDEMICS PLANTS OF CYPRUS

Endemic to Cyprus

Red Data Book category
Taraxacum holmboei, Troödos dandelion is a rosulate perennial herb, up to 10 cm high. Leaves simple, all in rosette, deeply divided (pinnatifid), with deltoid-acute lobes, glabrous, oblong in outline, 3.5-10 x 8-2.5 cm. Flowers in capitula, with yellow, ligulate florets, flowering May-June (hysteranthous, flowers appearing after leaf development). Fruit a pappose achene.

Open pine forests, roadsides, dry hillsides with open vegetation on igneous rocks at 1100-1950 m altitude.

Endemic to Cyprus where it is confined to the Troödos Mountains where it is locally common: Platania, Karvounas, Troodos Square, Almyrolivadho, Khionistra and Prodromos.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Amiantos 9/5/2015 by George Konstantinou

Tetraena alba (L. f.) Beier & Thulin - Cyprus

Tetraena alba (synonym Zygophyllum album) is a species of plant in the family Zygophyllaceae which is found in arid regions of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is a salt tolerant plant and dominates many of the plant communities in which it grows.

Description

Tetraena alba is a low, much-branched shrub. The leaves have paired obovoid, fleshy leaflets which are whitish with mealy pubescence. The small flowers are solitary and grow in the axils of the leaves; they have white, clawed petals. The fruit is a five-lobed, pear-shaped capsule containing elliptical seeds with wart-like projections.

Distribution

This species is found in Spain, Crete, Northern and Northeast Africa, Mauritania, Western Asia (including southern Cyprus, the Eastern Aegean Islands and the Sinai Peninsula) and the Arabian Peninsula.

Ecology

Tetraena alba is a salt-tolerant plant; it does not have glands to secrete the excess salt it takes up, instead it concentrates the salt in its leaves and then sheds them, also shedding its petioles when necessary. It is found in a number of different habitats; one of these is "phytogenic hillocks", hummocky landforms typical in areas with blown sands; another is in saline depressions, sometimes as pure stands, and other times as the dominant plant in its community. Other plants in the salt-tolerant communities in which it lives include Halocnemum strobilaceum, Nitraria retusa and Limonium axillare. At the Moghra Oasis in the Qattara Depression there is a brackish lake and a Phragmites swamp, and T. alba grows at the perimeter, where the desert plains start. In the innermost part of this zone it forms hummocks and grows with Tamarix nilotica, Alhagi maurorum and Nitraria retusa. In the outermost part the plants are scant, do not form mounds and are progressively smaller. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraena_alba

Photos Akrotiri 23/4/2015 by George Konstantinou

Taraxacum cyprium H. Lindb. - Cyprus

Taraxacum  is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae and consists of species commonly known as dandelion. They are native to Eurasia and North America, and two species, T. officinale and T. erythrospermum, are found as commonplace wild flowers worldwide. Both species are edible in their entirety. The common name dandelion (/ˈdændᵻlaɪ.ən/ dan-di-ly-ən, from French dent-de-lion, meaning "lion's tooth") is given to members of the genus. Like other members of the Asteraceae family, they have very small flowers collected together into a composite flower head. Each single flower in a head is called a floret. Many Taraxacum species produce seeds asexually by apomixis, where the seeds are produced without pollination, resulting in offspring that are genetically identical to the parent plant.

The species of Taraxacum are tap-rooted, perennial, herbaceous plants, native to temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere. The genus contains many species which usually (or in the case of triploids, obligately) reproduce by apomixis, resulting in many local populations and endemism. In the British Isles alone, 234 microspecies are recognised in 9 loosely defined sections, of which 40 are "probably endemic".

In general, the leaves are 5–25 cm long or longer, simple, lobed, and form a basal rosette above the central taproot. The flower heads are yellow to orange coloured, and are open in the daytime, but closed at night. The heads are borne singly on a hollow stem (scape) that is usually leafless and rises 1–10 cm or more above the leaves. Stems and leaves exude a white, milky latex when broken. A rosette may produce several flowering stems at a time. The flower heads are 2–5 cm in diameter and consist entirely of ray florets. The flower heads mature into spherical seed heads called blowballs[6] or clocks (in both British and American English) containing many single-seeded fruits called achenes. Each achene is attached to a pappus of fine hairs, which enable wind-aided dispersal over long distances.

The flower head is surrounded by bracts (sometimes mistakenly called sepals) in two series. The inner bracts are erect until the seeds mature, then flex downward to allow the seeds to disperse. The outer bracts are often reflexed downward, but remain appressed in plants of the sections Palustria and Spectabilia. Some species drop the parachute from the achenes; the hair-like parachutes are called pappus, and they are modified sepals. Between the pappus and the achene is a stalk called a beak, which elongates as the fruit matures. The beak breaks off from the achene quite easily, separating the seed from the parachute.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Gialousa 17/11/2014 by George Konstantinou

London rocket - Sisymbrium irio L. - Σκυλοβρούβα - Cyprus

Sisymbrium irio, known as London rocket, is a plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual herb exceeding three feet in height with open, slender stem branches. The flowers are small with four pale yellow petals. The basal leaves are broad and often lobed, while the upper leaves are linear in shape and up to four inches long. The fruit is a long narrow cylindrical silique which stays green when ripe. The younger pods overtop the flowers. When dried the fruit has small red oblong seeds. The common name "London rocket" comes from its abundance after the Great Fire of London in 1666.. However, Dr E J Salisbury, in his study of the bombsites of London after the Great Fire of 1940, "failed to find a single specimen, nor has any other reliable observer reported it", according to R. S. R. Fitter

This species is considered a weed in some areas.

London rocket is used in the Middle East to treat coughs and chest congestion, to relieve rheumatism, to detoxify the liver and spleen, and to reduce swelling and clean wounds. The Bedouin use the leaf of London Rocket as a tobacco substitute.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Geri 17/1/2015 by George Konstantinou

Pale stonecrop - Sedum sediforme (Jacq.) Pau - Cyprus

Petrosedum sediforme, the pale stonecrop, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It has pointed, succulent, glaucous blue leaves and yellow, five-pointed flowers emerging on and inflorescence. The plant is native to mountainous and coastal regions of the Mediterranean Basin. It is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental rock garden plant.

Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species of leaf succulents that are found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, varying from annual and creeping herbs to shrubs. The plants have water-storing leaves. The flowers usually have five petals, seldom four or six. There are typically twice as many stamens as petals.

A number of species formerly classified as Sedum are now the separate genus Hylotelephium.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Gialousa 4/6/2015 by George Konstantinou