Andreas Zikos

Rhizomatous perennial herbaceous plant, merely reaching 10cm in height. Basal leaves are cordate, glabrous, dark green, crenate, with acute to obtuse apex, forming a rosette. Cauline leaves are similar, though usually more acute. Long peduncles bear the flowers that are unscented and rose-violet to whitish in colour. Flowering time March – June.

Branched chamaephyte of a maximum height of 100 cm, pinnate leaves, covered with gray hair. The flowers appear in dense racemes from April to early June, depending on the location and altitude. It is endemic to Crete, very common in some areas, where it forms large populations. It grows in stony, limestone slopes with phrygana, even at the edges of roads, at altitudes up to 1100 m. A recent report from the island of Rhodes seems to be random insertion.