This annual grass with a strictly Mediterranean, mainly western distribution, is present in almost all the regions of Central and Southern Italy (absent from the Marche and Molise, of dubious occurrence in Umbria). It grows in the gaps of the Mediterranean garrigues, from which it passed to disturbed urban environments such as walls and waysides, on soils that are rich in skeleton and dry in summer, with optimum in the Mediterranean belt. The species sporadically appears in the outer belt of the temporary ponds of Sardinia, in contact with garrigue and maquis vegetation. The genus is dedicated to the German pharmacist Johann Samuel Vulpius (1760-1846); the species name refers to the stems which are bent like a knee (Latin: geniculum) towards the base. Flowering period: April to June. |
