Fujairah Flora: Centaurim Pulchellum
The wildlife of the United Arab Emirates is the flora and fauna of this country on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula and the southern end of the Persian Gulf. The country offers a variety of habitats for wildlife including the coast, offshore islands, mangrove areas, mudflats, salt pans, sand and gravel plains, sand dunes, mountain slopes, wadis and rocky summits.
Because the terrain is so varied, it supports a greater number of species of plants and animals than might have been expected in this relatively small country.
The mountains have a cooler, more temperate climate and here there is an abundance of Alpine flowers among the rocks, on slopes and in cracks, fissures and wadis.
Lesser centaury is an erect annual herb branching from the base, often less than 10 cm (4 in) tall, and much smaller than common centaury (Centaurium erythraea). Sometimes it is reduced to a single stem with one flower.
The inflorescence is a group of a few pale pink star-like flowers, each with a short stalk, a tube and five narrow petals, about 1 cm (0.4 in) across, flat-faced with yellow anthers. Like other members of the family, the flowers close in the afternoon. The calyx is about as long as the fruit, which is a cylindrical capsule.
Distribution and habitat
It grows on a range of soil types, from calcareous to mildly acidic.
On the coast it can be found in open sandy and muddy turf, often in saltmarshes, sand dunes and beside estuaries. Inland it inhabits lowland dry, open grasslands, heaths, woodland glades and rides, marl pits and other unshaded, disturbed ground.
-Wikipedia
