Epilobium dodonaei Vill.

Raab-Straube, Eckhard von & Raus, Thomas, 2022, Euro + Med-Checklist Notulae, 15, Willdenowia 52 (2), pp. 273-299 : 286

Epilobium dodonaei Vill. – Fig. 9.

+ Cr: Crete (Kriti), regional unit Chania, municipality Apokoronas, 6.33 km SSW of Melidoni village, above church of Agio Pnevma Pemonion, 35°20'11.7''N 24°05'10.4''E, c. 1400 m, crevices of limestone cliff facing west, 14 Aug 2022, Palimetakis (photos); ibid., 21 Aug 2022, Avramakis (NHMC 42-13398). – Epilobium dodonaei is easily recognized by its alternate, narrowly linear, strigulose leaves, (1.5–)2–5(–8) cm long and only 1–4(–5) mm wide, and by its slightly zygomorphic flowers with a style 7–17 mm long, which is at first deflexed but later becomes erect ( Fig. 9C) after the anthers have dehisced ( Raven 1968; and examination of 88 Greek specimens of E. dodonaei at B). The species is widely distributed in C and S Europe, except the Iberian Peninsula, extending east to Turkey and the S Caucasus ( Raab-Straube 2018b +). In Greece, it is distributed in all the mainland floristic regions except East Central and extends to N Peloponnisos and Mt Dirfys in Evvia ( Strid 2016a: 402; 2016b: map 2373; Dimopoulos & al. 2020), but until now it had never been recorded from the Cretan area. On 14 August 2022, G.P. found 12–15 mature individuals growing on a single cliff in a remote valley on the N side of the Lefka Ori of W Crete. On 21 August 2022, M. Avramakis (Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete) collected a herbarium specimen. The limestone of the cliff is extremely eroded and full of holes, the Epilobium growing with only a few other vascular plant species, including Aubrieta deltoidea (L.) DC., Cotoneaster creticus J. Fryer & B. Hylmö , a Galium species of the “ G. mollugo group” sensu Strid (2016a), Hypericum empetrifolium subsp. oliganthum (Rech. f.) I. Hagemann and an as yet unidentified species of Umbelliferae (based on photos taken by M. Avramakis, J. Bienvenu and G.P.). This small population in Crete represents the S limit of the currently known distribution of E. dodonaei .

G. Palimetakis & N. J. Turland