Crucianella latifolia L.

Family: RUBIACEAE

Genus: Crucianella

Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Castelló. Tarragona. València.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Ibiza. Cabrera.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Mediterranean

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Terophyte.

Habitats: Pine wood and shrubland with rosemary and thyme garigue. Therophytic calicole fields. Rocky surfaces and dry stone walls. Stony and dry soils.

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.