Herbario Virtual del Mediterráneo Occidental
Àrea de Botànica, Departament de Biologia, Universitat de les Illes Balears
Crucianella latifolia L.
Family : RUBIACEAE
Genus : Crucianella
Province distribution : Alicante. Balearic Islands. Castellón. Tarragona. Valencia.
Distribution in the islands : Cabrera. Ibiza. Mallorca.
General distribution : Mediterranean
Flowering time : May. June.
Life-forms : Terophyte.
Habitat : Stony and dry soils.
IUCN Category : Poco preocupante
Characteristics : Like all the Rubiaceae, the species of Crucianella have verticillate leaves. But unlike the rest of the genuses of this family, the flowers are grouped in dense spikes at the top of the branches. Crucianella latifolia is an annual cycle species, with lanceolate leaves that are normally over a centimetre long, and have long, narrow spikes. It can be mistaken for Crucianella angustifolia, which can live in similar habitats, we will differentiate it by its leaves, which in this species are very narrow, linear and smaller than one centimetre; moreover the spike is wider and quadrangular, whereas Crucianella latifolia is cylindrical. It lives in rocky places, in the cracks and the rocks. It flowers at the end of spring.
