German Madwort

Sinai (St.Katherine).

Temperate Europe, north Africa, Asia, north America.

Moist rocky crevices.

Annual.

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
cleistothecium of Golovinomyces cynoglossi parasitises live Asperugo procumbens

Variable in the height of the plant and leaf size characfers. Usually found in and around cultivated areas or in hedge rows as a scrambler. The calyx in fruit is prominent. Found up to 4000 m.

Plant up to 50 cm tall. Stem and branches fistular, striate, scabrid with setose retrorse hairs. Leaves shortly petiolate. Lamina decurrent, 20-80 x 6-19 mm (including petiole), oblanceolate to broad lanceolate, acute to obtuse, hairy on both surfaces with subappressed hairs up to 1.0 mm long, arising from a swollen base. Pedicel 2-4 mm long. Calyx hairy, ± 2.5 mm long, ± nodding in fruit, divided in to linear-lanceolate lobes, nervose, accrescent, saucer-like and up to 12 mm in fruit. Corolla blue, 2-4 mm long, slightly exceeding calyx length, scales opposite; lobes, obtuse; tube c. 1.8 mm long, equalling or longer than limb. Anthers c. 0.5 mm long ovate. Style ± 0.5 mm, stigma subcapitate. Nutlets 2.5-3 mm long, laterally compressed, ellitic-ovoid, minutely tubercled, brownish yellow to brown.

Stem slender, to 90 cm tall, hollow, with 5 or 6 longitudinal ribs, glochidiate along ribs, usually branched. Lower stem leaves petiolate, spatulate or narrowly oblong, 5-8 × 0.8-1.5 cm, sparsely minutely hispid, margin entire or finely dentate; upper stem leaves sessile, becoming gradually smaller and subopposite. Pedicel short or absent. Calyx ca. 1.6 mm, parted to below middle, minutely hispid; lobes somewhat unequal, linear-lanceolate, to 8 mm wide after anthesis. Corolla blue, ca. 2.5 mm; tube longer than limb; throat appendages tuberclelike; lobes of limb somewhat unequal, broadly ovate to ovate. Anther ca. 0.6 mm. Style ca. 0.8 mm, included. Nutlets narrowly ovoid, ca. 3 mm; attachment scar orbicular. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 48.

N.W. Africa, Europe, W. & C. Asia, Himalaya (Kashmir to Nepal), Tibet, Mongolia, N.W. China.

Distribution: N. Africa, Asia and Europe.

Gansu, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, N Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, NE Xizang [N India, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; N and NW Africa, SW and W Asia, Europe].

3000-3800 m

Fl. Per.: March-May.

Hillside meadows, near villages, field margins; above 2000 m.

Asperugo procumbens, known as madwort or German madwort, is the single species in the monotypic plant genus Asperugo. This plant is native to Europe but has been introduced elsewhere, such as the northern half of North America.