Adenocarpus telonensis (Loisel.) DC.
Cytisus telonensis Loisel., A. grandiflorus Boiss., A. rodriguezii Sennen & Mauricio
Spa.: Rascavieja, escobón prieto, codeso. Fre.: Adénocarpe. Ara.: Urziz, auzzir, agultín.
Subshrub or shrub, up to 1.5 m in height, evergreen, hermaphrodite, very ramose, ± upright. Trunk and older branches with greyish-brown bark, which peels off into longitudinal strips. Young branchlets green, densely villous, then glabrescent. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate, with leaflets 2.5-9 × 1.5-5 mm, subequal, obovate-elliptic, obtuse, attenuated at the base, subsessile, with margin slightly involute, glabrous and green on both sides, sometimes slightly villous on the underside and along the margin. Inflorescence in very short racemes, in umbelliform or capitulliform groups, terminal, usually with only 2-5 flowers, with villous peduncles and pedicels. Calyx 7-10 mm, campanulate, bilabiate, very villous, not glandular, with tube 2-2.5 mm; the upper lip divided up to the base into 2 elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate laciniae; the lower lip slightly longer, divided halfway into 3 subulate teeth, with the central tooth shorter than the lateral ones —in all the previous species of the genus the central tooth is longer—. Corolla papilionoid, yellow, with standard silky-villous on the dorsal side; wings shorter, glabrous and keel almost as long as the standard. Androecium monadelphous, with 10 stamens. Pod 2.5-3.5 × 0.35-0.45 cm, linear-oblong, glabrous or hairy, with hairs and glandular-brownish tubercles, dehiscent. Seeds 2-6, ovoid, compressed, dark brown or black, smooth.
Flowering:
April to June.
Fruiting:
June to August.
Habitat:
Forests and thickets of low and medium mountains, preferably on siliceous substrates, from sea level to mid-mountain (1,400m). In subhumid to humid bioclimate, on thermomediterranean and mesomediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Western Mediterranean region. In North Africa only in Morocco, in mountains of the western Rif, reaching towards the S to the mountains of Taza.
Observations:
A closely related species is A. boudyi Batt. & Maire, a curious subshrub usually creeping that may exceptionally reach 0.5 m in height, also with sparse umbelliform inflorescences, with very small leaflets (2-7 × 1-3 mm), oblong-obovate but with linear-lanceolate appearance —due to an involute margin— and short pod (1.5-2 cm). Endemic to Morocco, locally abundant, in forests and pastures of the central Middle Atlas (1,350-2,100 m).
Conservation status:
A. telonensis is a relatively common and widespread species, not considered threatened; A. boudyi is not considered threatened either but it has a very small distribution area. Currently, neither have been assessed at a global level on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.