Searsia tripartita (Ucria) Moffett
Rhus tripartita (Ucria) Grande, Rh. oxyacantha auct.
Eng.: Lac sumach. Fre.: Sumac à feuilles d’aubépine. Ara.: Djedari, djedariya, eydari, zaqqum, ern, lek, leqq, haïnecht, jdari, tahuneck, tizrha, tizra, awzard, (Egypt): Areen. Tam.:/Tamachek: Addu, taduggert, tadumkheit, tabarueq, tahammak, tehunak, tahunek, tauinet, auineq, auzad, dezuggert, haïnecht; the crust: taufar.
Shrub, dioecious, up to 3(4) m in height, spiny, very ramose, sometimes intricate, especially when grazed by cattle. Stems and older branches tortuous, with strong spines. Bark greyish-brown, fissured. Young branches reddish-brown, sometimes clearly red, smooth, slightly shiny. Leaves trifoliolate (leaflets rarely 5), alternate, generally grouped in fascicles. Central leaflet larger than the 2 lateral ones; obovate or oblong, sometimes spatulate, with lobules or with wide teeth on the upper half or more rarely along the entire contour —sometimes twice lobulate-dentate—; glabrous and deep green on the upper side and ± pubescent and slightly lighter on the underside. Petiole well developed, almost as long as the leaf (sometimes even longer) flattened in cross section and curved upwards. Inflorescence in ramose axillary racemes, short (2-3 cm). Calyx with 5 triangular sepals, very small, green. Corolla with 5 oval-triangular petals, open in the shape of a star, yellow. Stamens 5, borne on a central fleshy disc, yellow. Fruit a circular compressed drupe, similar to a wide lentil, 3-7 mm in diameter, greenish-yellowish at first, then red and finally black, smooth, shiny, with 3 small appendages at the top.
Flowering:
February to May.
Fruiting:
July to October.
Habitat:
Forests, thickets and rocky outcrops on the drier terrains of the Mediterranean area. In the Sahara it grows mainly within shady crags and rocky or sandy-loamy depressions of plains. From Saharan to dry bioclimate, on inframediterranean and thermomediterranean floors.
Distribution:
North Africa, Sicily and Asia Minor. In North Africa it is a common species in the drier zones of the central and southern Mediterranean areas (mid Atlantic Morocco, High Atlas, Anti-Atlas, Saharan Atlas), to the N of Libya. It seems absent from the Rif and the Tellian Atlas, although through the Muluya depression it reaches the Mediterranean. Also in western Sahara, mountains of the central Sahara and southern Sahara (Mauritania, Mali and Niger). Furthermore, it is also found in the Egyptian eastern desert and the Sinai Peninsula, reaching the N of Sudan.
Conservation status:
Common and widespread species. In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it is listed as Least Concern (LC) at global level. In Tunisia it is included as Rhus tripartitum, in its List of native species that are rare and threatened with extinction (Order of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, 19-July-2006). In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) it is listed as “Vulnerable”.