Phlomis purpurea L.
Eng.: Purple phlomis, purple sage. Spa.: Matagallo, crestagallo. Fre.: Phlomis.
Evergreen shrub, hermaphrodite, up to 1.5(2) m in height, erect, ramose. Stems and old branches with greyish-brown bark. Young branches green, although they appear slightly whitish because they are covered with a dense lanate tomentum of whitish hairs. Leaves (3-9 × 0.8-3.5 cm), ovate or lanceolate, obtuse, rounded or cordate at the base, with long petioles (1-4 cm), margin subentire or with wide, obtuse and shallow teeth; leaf blade very rugose, with very pronounced midrib on the underside, deep green and glabrescent on the upper side and whitish-cottony on the underside (due to being covered with whitish stellate hairs). Inflorescence in false verticils (verticillasters), with 6-10 flowers each, on the axil of upper leaves. Floral bracts lanceolate, soft to the touch, cottony. Flowers light purple, pinkish, large (22-27 mm). Calyx tubular-campanulate 15-20 mm, with 5 teeth longer than wide, obtuse, each ending in a mucro shorter than the tooth. Corolla with 2 very unequal lips; the upper lip covering the rest of the flower in the shape of a helmet; the lower lip smaller, divided into 3 lobes. Stamens 4, hidden under the upper lip. Fruit very small, dry, consisting of 4 nutlets (frequently 1-3 due to poor development of 1 nutlet), dark, included in the persistent calyx. 2n = 20.
Flowering:
March to July.
Fruiting:
May to August.
Habitat:
Forests and thickets, on very diverse terrain, from dry to humid environment, sometimes very dry. Mild winters; it does not tolerate frost, therefore only slightly penetrating inland and at low altitudes (up to 1,600 m).
Distribution:
Betic-Rif endemic, very rare in North Africa, very localised in the Tingitana Peninsula (between Melusa and Cape Altares).
Observations:
A similar species but less woody and smaller is P. antiatlantica J.P.Peltier [P. italica subsp. antiatlantica (J.P.Peltier) Rivas Mart.], also with pinkish flowers, lanceolate leaves, sessile on the upper part of the stems, near the inflorescence, and with long petioles in the rest of the branch; endemic to Mimount and Fouilim Mts. (Anti-Atlas, Morocco).
Conservation status:
Rare species (although sometimes locally abundant) and with variable distributions. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.