Paronychia albanica subsp. graeca Chaudhri

Taxonomy: Fam. Caryophyllaceae// Genus: Paronychia// Species: Paronychia albanica Chaudhri// Subspecies: Paronychia albanica subsp. graeca Chaudhri.

Determined according to the botanical key provided by Micevski (1993).

Note: Similar to P. macedonica subsp. macedonica, another Balkan endemic which is more widespread in the region. Paronychia albanica subsp. graeca differs from the latter in the somewhat smaller and denser (more caespitose) habit, stems with more crowded leaves, and more or less acute calyx teeth. The fruits are larger, c. 2 mm long. Found exclusively in calcareous terrains.

Lifeform: Perrenial; hemicryptophyte according to the Raunkiær system.

Distribution: Native to Greece according to the Plants of the World Online portal (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew); also native to North Macedonia according to The Euro+Med PlanBase (Marhold, 2011+) and Micevski (1993).

Habitat: Rocks in calcareous terrains. Recorded near village of Beli.

Flowering period: Late spring – summer: MAY, JUN.

*Paronychia albanica* subsp. *graeca* – habit. Osogovo – village of Beli region, 07.06.2025. Photo by Trajche Dimitrovski.

Scaled images

*Paronychia albanica* subsp. *graeca* – habit. Scale in cm. Specimens from Osogovo – village of Beli region, collected 07.06.2025. Photo by Trajche Dimitrovski.

References:

Paronychia albanica subsp. graeca Chaudhri. Plants of the World Online portal, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77250849-1 [Accessed 23.08.2025].

Paronychia Miller. Micevski, K. (1993). The Flora of the Republic of Macedonia Vol. 1, Book 2. Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, pp. 283 – 287.

Paronychia albanica subsp. graeca. Marhold, K. 2011+: Caryophyllaceae. – In: Euro+Med Plantbase – the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Published at https://europlusmed.org/. https://europlusmed.org/cdm_dataportal/taxon/8271774e-0c43-465b-a8ac-86af3e160c7c [Accessed 23.08.2025].

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