Hammada schmittiana (Pomel) Botsch.
Haloxylon schmittianum Pomel, Arthrophytum schmittianum (Pomel) Maire & Weiller
Spa.: Barrilla tamojo. Fre.: Saligne à balai. Ara.: Remt, rimt, hardjem, nadjrem, baggel, harmaq, bessit, oouan idehan. Tam : Ouanihdane, iremt, tafou.
Evergreen shrub, hermaphrodite, up to 50(70) cm in high. Very branchy, whitish in appearance, with dense, articulated white ascending branches. Flower-bearing twigs of the year greenish, tenacious, that does not blacken with drying. Opposite leaves, squamiform, welded to each other and to the article, with which they fuse, forming 2 small opposite sheets at the top of the article, more or less triangular. The foliar axilla with woolly hairs. Flowering branches emerge more or less regularly from the stems of previous years. Hermaphrodite flowers, solitary in the axil of the leaves. Spiciform inflorescence. The fruit is an achene surrounded by the 5 perianth parts, each with a dorsal wing. Wings uneven. Obovate wing, white or pink in color.
Flowering:
July-December.
Fruiting:
September-February.
Habitat:
Halophile species of sandy soils in desert areas.
Distribution:
Endemic to North Africa, with a strictly Saharan distribution, from Morocco to Libya.
Conservation status:
Relatively common and widely distributed species that is not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.