Adenocarpus complicatus (L.) J. Gay
A. intermedius DC.
Spa.: Codeso. Fre.: Adénocarpe plié. Ara.: Urziz, auzzir, agultín.
Subshrub or shrub, up to 1.5(2) m in height, perennial, hermaphrodite, very ramose, branching extended or extended-erect; sometimes creeping, with prostrate stems and young upright branchlets. Trunk and older branches with ± greyish-brown bark, that peels off into longitudinal strips. Young branches striated, green, densely villous. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate, with leaflets 6-11 × 3.5-6 mm, subequal, broadly lanceolate, oblanceolate or oblong, acute, attenuated at the base, subsessile, with an entire margin and slightly or not at all involute, glabrous or with some hairs and green on the upper side, villous and slightly lighter on the underside. Inflorescence in terminal racemes, ± dense (5-30 flowers), with villous peduncle and pedicels. Calyx 2-2.5 mm, campanulate, bilabiate, villous, glandular (in Moroccan plants) or without glands (in Algerian plants); the upper lip divided to the base into 2 oval-lanceolate acuminate laciniae; the lower lip longer, divided on its upper third into 3 triangular-subulate teeth. Corolla papilionoid, yellow, with a standard pubescent on the dorsal side; wings slightly shorter, glabrous, and keel almost as long as the standard, very recurved upwards, pubescent at the base. Androecium monadelphous, with 10 stamens. Pods 2-6 × 0.4-0.6 cm, linear-oblong, compressed, with numerous dark brown glandular tubercles, dehiscent. Seeds 2-10, ovoid, compressed, brown and smooth.
Flowering:
April to June.
Fruiting:
June to August.
Habitat:
Forests and thickets of low and medium mountains (900-2,000 m), in subhumid to humid bioclimate, on thermomediterranean and mesomediterranean floors. It is a calcifuge species.
Distribution:
Mediterranean region and Madeira. In North Africa it grows in the mountains of northern Morocco (Rif and central and northern Middle Atlas) and in the mountains of Kabylia in Algeria (Akfadu, Jebel Tamesguida and Jebel Babor).
Observations:
According to Castroviejo in Flora iberica (1999), A. complicatus is native only in the Iberian Peninsula and probably also in France; in the rest of its range it would grow subspontaneouly. This idea is not supported by other authors working in North Africa, nor by Dobignard and Chatelain (2012). Since 2010 several authors have investigated the complexity of the group by analyzing their phylogenetic relationships with molecular or chemosystematic markers (flavonoids). They conclude that there is little molecular variation between taxa.
Three subspecies or geographical varieties are currently recognised for A. complicatus in North Africa. Morphological differentiation is complex and subtle but is it easy to separate them geographically:
A. complicatus subsp. bracteatus (Font Quer & Pau ex Font Quer) Talavera & P.E.Gibbs (incl. subsp. intermedius auct N.Afr. non DC.), presents calyx, bracts and bracteoles with numerous stipitate glands, leaf petioles shorter than those of subsp. nainii and the upper side of the leaves glabrous or glabrescent; endemic to the siliceous Rif Mountains (Morocco).
A. complicatus subsp. nainii (Maire) P.E. Gibbs., with calyx, bracts and bracteoles with numerous stipitate glands, leaf petioles longer than those of subsp. bracteatus, the the upper side of the leaves villous; endemic to the the Middle Atlas (Morocco).
Recently, in 2018, from a sample from the Middle Atlas of the subsp. nainii and new collections, a new species has been proposed in this group: A. ronaldii Essokne & Jury. It has been differentiated by its leaflets, densely hairy on the upper surface and subglabrous on the underside, and the calyx always densely covered with glandular papillae, which are also common on bracts and bracteoles. It was collected in Zaiane territory, near Ulmés, in the Middle Atlas, between 930 and 1050 m altitude. In that same publication, A. nainii Maire is recognized as a species. To further complicate (or simplify) the identities, some authors consider that A. bracteatus F.Q & Pau (1927), from the Rif, is the same as A. nainii Maire. In this case, the group of A. complicatus in Morocco would be reduced to only A. nainii in the Rif and A. ronaldii in the Middle Atlas.
A. complicatus subsp. complicatus [incl. subsp. commutatus (Guss.) Cout., A. telonensis sensu Maire]; with calyx, bracts and bracteoles without glands; it is an Ibero-Maghrebi taxon present in northern Africa only in the Small Kabylia (northern Algeria).
Conservation status:
A relatively common and widely distributed species, not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.