Asperula pyrenaica L.

Spice In the field

Family: RUBIACEAE

Genus: Asperula

Catalan common name: Herba fina.

Spanish common name: Hierba fina. Yerba enrejona.

Province distribution: Barcelona. Girona. Lleida.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Boreo-alpine (Pyrenees orophyt, Pyrenees alpine and Cantabrico Pyrenees

Uses and properties: Medicinal.

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Hemicryptophyte.

Habitats: Rock crevices and cliff faces. Meso-xerophyll mountain fields.

Characteristics: Rock fissures and calcarous rock ridges, in realatively dry areas. A perennial herb, short and tending to caespitose. Leaves are linear or lanceolate-linear and glabrous, grouped in whorls of 4. Produces white flowers (at times tinted with pink) grouped in cymes ± lax. Differs from A. cynanchica by having a corolla less than 4 mm, with a tube less than 2.5 mm.