Centranthus ruber (L.) DC. subsp. ruber

Spice Fruit In the field Inflorescence

Family: VALERIANACEAE

Genus: Centranthus

Catalan common name: Endianeta. Herba de Sant Jordi. Valeriana.

Spanish common name: Hierba de San Jorge. Milamores. Valeriana encarnada.

Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Barcelona. Castelló. Girona. Lleida. Tarragona. València.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Ibiza.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Mediterranean

Uses and properties: Medicinal.

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Chameophyte.

Habitats: Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Rocky surfaces and dry stone walls. Cultivated specie and naturalizated.

Characteristics: An herbaceous perennial plant which lives preferably in the cracks of walls and rocks also is grown in gardens. The basal leaves are petiolate and the superiors are sessile and of a lesser size, all of them are entire and opposite. Flowers are arranged in a dense cyme, are small, red in colour, rarely white, and with a spur. The fruit has a characteristic pappus.

Observations: In this plant is not autochthonous to the Balearic Islands, and all populations appear to have been naturalized from nearby gardens.