Searsia glutinosa (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) Moffett subsp. abyssinica(Hochst. ex Oliv.) Moffett
Rhus abyssinica Hochst. ex Oliv.
Ara.: Saamoab.
Shrub or small tree, dioecious, up to 5 m in height. Bark dark greyish, brown or reddish. Branchlets densely covered with short yellowish hairs, not glutinous. Leaves trifoliolate, with petiole up to 8 cm in length, leaflets sessile, ovate-lanceolate (the central leaflet longer, up to 15 cm), with dark venation on the upper side, pubescent-tomentose on both sides; margin of leaflets entire or crenate, with lobules or rounded teeth, except at the end that is usually acute. Flowers shortly pedicellate, subsessile, in terminal or axillary panicles shorter than the leaves, with hairy branches. Petals ovate, light brown. Fruits small, rounded, shiny brown, slightly flattened, with a persistent calyx.
Flowering:
December to March.
Fruiting:
May to August.
Habitat:
Evergreen forests and thickets. This species does not tolerate extreme drought, therefore it is distributed in “fog oases” of cliffs and rocky N and NE facing slopes.
Distribution:
East Africa, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and possibly Saudi Arabia. This is a plant typical of the tropical-Sudano flora that reaches the SE edge of Egypt in low abundance, refuged in mountainous “oases” that gather water from mists of the Red Sea. Its northernmost populations reach Jebel Elba and Erkowit Mts. in Sudan.
Observations:
Subsp. glutinosa and subsp. neoglutinosa (M.G.Gilbert) Moffett, which are not present in North Africa, are distinguished from subsp. abyssinica because the young shoots and leaves are covered with a bright glutinous secretion.
Conservation status:
Rare species within the area of this project. In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, S. glutinosa subsp. glutinosa is listed as Least Concern (LC) at global level (World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 2017). In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) it is listed as “Rare”.