Limonium cornarianum Kypr. & R. Artelari in Phyton (Horn) 38: 144. 1998.

– Holotype: Greece, Crete, Nomos Lasithiou, Ep[archia]. Sitias, Moni Kapsa, 35°01'N, 26°03'E, on calcareous maritime rocks, 20 Sep 1994, Z. Kypriotakis 8534 (UPA!) . – Fig. 2, 4B.

Description — Plants perennial, 17–63 cm tall, glabrous, with several erect stems. Caudices 2–12 cm long, branched with age and then plant with numerous leaf rosettes. Rosette leaves fleshy, pale green, flat or more usually irregularly folded, rugose, 25–90 × 6–20 mm, oblanceolate-spathulate, abruptly tapering into petiole, with petiole longer than lamina, margin cartilaginous, sometimes undulate, c. 0.1 mm wide, apex acute, mucronate to cuspidate, mucro 0.3–1.2 mm long; 1 central nerve with 2 lateral nerves in large leaves. Stems several, usually slender, erect, rugose, branched usually above lower 1/3. Inflorescence rhombic to trullate, rarely obtrullate in outline; sterile branches absent or 1–3 at lower part of stem, straight; fertile branches straight or slightly arched, directed obliquely upward. Spikes 8–37 mm long, more or less straight. Spikelets 3.8–4.5 mm long, very densely arranged, 3–11 per cm, mainly distichous, composed of 2–7 flowers. Outer bract 1.1–1.7 × 1–1.4 mm, glabrous, ovate-triangular, margin membranous, apex acute; central part, herbaceous forming a short point. Middle bract 1.2–1.9 × 0.9–1.3 mm, glabrous, membranous, oblong-elliptic, apex rounded. Inner bract 2.8–3.8 × 2.7–3.2 mm, glabrous, obovate, margin membranous, 0.5–0.8 mm wide, apex obtuse to rounded; central part herbaceous, forming a short point 0.4–0.5 mm long. Calyx 3.2–3.9 mm long; calyx tube usually unilaterally long hairy; calyx lobes 0.3–0.7 mm long, ovate; tube ribs ending at or above base of lobes. Corolla lilac.

Note — Plant leaf size (length and width) measurements were taken from several individuals in the field, at Pacheia Ammos (Crete), though not all these individuals were collected as herbarium specimens.

Chromosome number and ploidy — Ploidy level: 3x (inferred from preliminary flow cytometric results of genome size).

Breeding system — Apomixis was inferred from the monomorphic population in the locus classicus with self-incompatible floral combination B (Artelari & Georgiou 1999) and triploidy.

Distribution — Endemic, restricted to the Moni Kapsa gorge (SE Crete) and the E edge of Pacheia Ammos cove (NE Crete) (Fig. 1).

Habitat — Steep, calcareous rocks and dried salt marsh near the coast.

Additional specimens seen — GREECE, CRETE, PREFECTURE OF LASITHI: Pacheia Ammos, at E side of coast, on salt marshes between little church Agia Foteini and a small port, marshes with Tamarix, 35.11060°N, 25.81533°E, Aug 2014, K. Koutroumpa 99 (Z [Z-000278459]), K. Koutroumpa 100 (Z [Z-000278452]); Sitia, 3 km SSW of Kato Perivolakia, lower part of Moni Kapsas gorge, alt. 15 m, crevice of E-facing calcareous cliff, 26 Jun 1994, N. Turland 777 (BM, UPA); Moni Kapsa gorge on lower part toward sea, alt. 15–20 m, 35.02189°N, 26.05044°E, Aug 2014, K. Koutroumpa 731 (B [B 10 1164150], Z [Z-000278453]), K. Koutroumpa 751 (B [B 10 1164136], Z [Z-000278454]); Eparchia Sitias, M [oni]. Kapsa, Schlucht, 35°01'03"N, 26°03'05"E, 50–100 m ü.N.N., Felswände (Kalk), 16 Oct 1997, N. Böhling 6738 (B [B 10 0192506]); Exp. E der Kapsa-Schlucht, Ostkreta, 20 m, Kalkfelsen, 15 Oct 1998, R. Ulrich (B [B 10 0189672]).