Phyteuma spicatum L.

Abstract

A polycarpic, glabrous, perennial hemicryptophyte. Flowering shoots erect, 25-95 cm, produced annually from the axils of cataphyllary (scale-like) leaves on an enlarged primary root. Root green or reddish externally, becoming brown with age, growing vertically within the soil, or horizontally just beneath the soil surface. Phyteuma spicatum is heterophyllous, producing simple leaves. Basal rosettes usually consist of 2-6 petiolate leaves, 25-40 mm wide and 50-80 mm long. Petioles 40-150 mm long. Blades ovate-cordate and singly or doubly serrate or crenate and obtuse. Rosette leaves present at anthesis. Cauline leaves inserted alternately on the stem. Lower cauline leaves similar in form to basal leaves. Upper cauline leaves with rounded or cuneate base, becoming progressively smaller up the stem towards the inflorescence. Blade length: width ratio increases from the lowest to the highest cauline leaves. Uppermost leaves sessile and lanceolate. Peduncle erect, glabrous (10-) 30-90 (-110) cm in length. Involucral bracts lanceolate to linear, patent. Inflorescence racemose and spicate, oblong to cylindrical, 30-80 mm in length, although the rachis continues to elongate from anthesis to fruiting. Flowers sessile, densely packed in bud but less so in flower, with 30-100 (-172) flowers in a single inflorescence. Single flowers also sometimes occur in the axils of the upper cauline leaves. Corolla 7-10 mm in length, sepals 5, petals 5, fused at the base and forming an upwardly curving tube in bud. Flowers hermaphrodite, stamens 5, filaments and anthers free, appressed around style. Style 1, stigmas 2-3, ovary 2-3 celled (usually 3), containing many (32-73) ovules. Seeds oval, reddishbrown, approximately 1.0 x 0.6 mm, with a mean airdry seed mass ranging from 0.138 to 0.150 mg (based on 50-185 seeds per sample). Mean number of seeds per capsule in plants from Sussex (3.8-) 17.5 (-37.2) depending on inflorescence size and time of flowering (Wheeler 1997). Corresponding mean (? SD) values