Bupleurum fruticosum L.
Eng.: Shrubby hare’s-ear. Spa.: Adelfilla, matabuey. Fre.: Buplèvre arbustif. Ara.: Duag, lahiet el djedi, chehmet el atrus.
Evergreen shrub, hermaphrodite, up to 4-5 m in height, very ramose. Stems and old branches very upright, with reddish-brown or purplish-brown bark, slightly fissured. Young branchlets smooth, reddish. Leaves simple, alternate, coriaceous, subsessile (3-12 × 1-3 cm); leaf blade lanceolate or almost spatulate, subacute, narrowed at the base progressively until it reaches the stem; entire, with a narrow semitransparent rim, glabrous, deep green on the upper side and glaucous on the underside. Inflorescence (compound umbel) solitary, with 5-25 rays, at the end of which another small umbel is borne (umbellule) with the flowers. Base of the main umbel and that of the secondary umbels is surrounded by a whorl of bracts, very promptly caducous. Flower with ovary elongated, greenish, crowned by a yellow disk from which 5 small yellow petals are borne, inrolled forwards. Sepals absent. Stamens 5, between the petals. Fruit pedicellate, smooth, with ribs narrowly winged, smooth, 1 vitta per valleculae and 2 in the commissural side.
Flowering:
May to August.
Fruiting:
September to November.
Habitat:
Thickets, rocky outcrops, edges of streams, in calcareous and siliceous terrains. From semiarid to subhumid bioclimate, on thermomediterranean and lower mesomediterranean floors. In dry areas it is always close to watercourses, temporary or permanent.
Distribution:
Western Mediterranean. In North Africa it is an unusual species, but it is scattered throughout the mountains of the N of Morocco (Rif and Middle Atlas) and N of Algeria (Tellian Atlas and the Aures Massif); in Tunisia it is very rare, very localised in Aïn Si-Ahmar, to the E of Béja. To the E it reaches the Jebel Akhdar (NE of Libya).
Conservation status:
Fairly rare species with a small distribution area. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.