Acantholimon ulicinum

Description

Acantholimon ulicinum (ulicinum: yoo-lih-SEE-num), also known as the prickly thief, is a species of broadleaf evergreen plants in the family Plumbaginaceae. Acantholimon ulicinum is around 10 cm (4 in) tall and has a spread of 30 cm (1 ft). The species is endemic to the eastern Mediterranean region (Greece, the Balkans and Turkey) where it grows in dry soil. From June to July is when Acantholimon ulicinum blooms, with pale pink flowers. It has crowded, rigid, hard-textured, spiny-tipped, linear and needle-like leaves, and five-petaled pink flowers in short-stalked inflorescences. Acantholimon (prickly thrift) is a genus of small flowering plants within the plumbago or leadwort family, Plumbaginaceae. They are distributed from southeastern Europe to central Asia and also in South America, but also cultivated elsewhere in rock gardens. The evergreen subshrubs are generally cushion to mat-forming, with densely tufted shoots bearing mostly awl (long, pointed spike) to needle or grass-like, prickle to spine-tipped hard-textured leaves. They have shortish, simple or branched flower stems which can be loose or dense. The summer-borne flowers are composed of a funnel-shaped calyx, usually with a flared membranous margin, and five spreading petals.