Deverra DC. (incl. Pituranthos Viv.)
Genus with 8 species, 7 of them present in North Africa and the eighth, D. burchellii (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh., from southern Africa. Most were traditionally considered in the genus Pituranthos, which is now included within Deverra. They are perennial plants with somewhat lignified stems at the base or subshrubs that sometimes reach up to 1 m in height. Differentiated from the species of the genus Bupleurum by having minute, squamiform leaves and flowers with white or greenish petals. The greater species are D. tortuosa and D. juncea, but in the N of Africa there are 5 more species, all are subshrubs that barely exceed 60(100) cm in height.
D. triradiata Hochst. ex Boiss. (Ara.: Zagouh, eleigan, qasoukh), the largest of the species, an upright subshrub up to 1.2 m in height, branched at the base; with triangular to ovoid leaves with membranous margin; terminal umbels with 3-16 rays; petals light yellow or greenish, with long hairs; densely hairy fruits. There are 3 recognised subspecies; but only 2 are present in North Africa; subsp. triradiata, with umbels with 2-3, rarely 4 rays, petals light yellow, fruits wider than long (1.5 mm long and 2 mm wide) distributed throughout Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Iraq; and subsp. intermedia (Chevall.) Pfisterer & Podlech, that has umbels with 6-16 rays, greenish petals, fruits wider than long (c. 1.5 mm long and 2 mm wide) distributed throughout the NW Sahara, from the coastal and subcoastal regions of the Gulf of Sirte (Libya) up to the Atlantic Sahara (reaching towards the S to the NW of Mauritania), inland up to the Tassili-n-Ajjer (Algeria), and in the N up to the foothills of the Moroccan and Algerian Atlas and almost up to the centre of Tunisia.
D. scoparia Coss. & Durieu (Fre.: Fenouil, Tamahaq: Tattayt) is a greyish plant, generally prostrate, up to 0.8 m in in height; umbels with 5-15 scabrid rays 2-5 mm long; greenish petals and ovoid achenes 1.5-2.5 × 1.5-2 mm. It is an endemic species to North Africa, with a distribution similar to that of D. triradiata subsp. intermedia, but somewhat broader, reaching also the Ahhagar Mountains, almost to the Tunisian Dorsal in Tunisia, to the Atlasic mountain ranges in Morocco and even further N to the Haouz-Rehamma, reaching the Mediterranean coast in eastern Morocco. There are 2 recognised subspecies, subsp. scoparia and subsp. tripolitana (Andr.) Pfisterer & Podlech, that have umbels with 5-7 rays, light yellow petals, fruits c. 1.2 mm long by 0.8 mm wide; distributed through NW Libya.
D. reboudii Coss. & Durieu, is a very similar species, it is not recognised by some authors who include it in the normal variation of D. scopari. It differs by its shorter prostrate decumbent stems (up to 0.2 m long), woody base with numerous rosettes of leaves 1-2 pinnatisect, upper cauline leaves linear; umbels terminal and lateral with 2-7 rays; it is a very rare endemic species to North Africa, growing in the high plateaux between the Tellian Atlas and the Saharan Atlas. It has been also cited in SW Morocco (Anti-Atlas), but confirmation of its presence here is pending.
D. battandieri (Maire) Chrtek, Osb.-Kos. & Šourková, a glaucous plant, with erect, slender stems, sparsely branched, with purple stigmas. Distributed in rocky outcrops and desert grasslands in the far NW Sahara, from the western end of the Saharan Atlas (Jebel Grouz and others nearby) to Tinduf, reaching the Anti-Atlas and its surrounding semi-desert areas in the NW.
D. denudata (Viv.) Pfisterer & Podlech [Pituranthos chloranthus (Coss. & Durieu) Schinz] (Fre.: Fenouil, Tamahaq: Attay), plant with erect stems, divaricate, up to 0.6 m in height; cauline leaves reduced to narrow deciduous sheaths; umbels with about 10 thick rays; achenes 2-4 mm long, pubescent-lanate. It is distributed throughout steppes, deserts, arid regions and gravel pits in watercourses in flat places and bases of the mountains in the NW Sahara. With a distribution very similar to that of D. triradiata subsp. intermedia and D. scoparia subsp. scoparia, reaching inland up to the central Sahara massifs (Tassili-n-Ajjer, Ahhgar) and in Tunisia almost up to the Tunisian Dorsal.
Not a very common species in general, even rare; only exceptionally abundant very locally. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Pfisterer, R. & Podlech, D. 1986. Revision der Gattung Deverra DC. (Umbelliferae). Mitt. Bot. Staatssamml. München 22: 571-604.
Key to species
1 Plants only bifurcated close to the base, stems unbranched,with small terminal umbels Deverra juncea
1 Plants with highly branched stems and umbels terminal and lateral 2
2 Plants taller, up to 1.2 m in height, with glabrous stems and leaves 3
2 Plants up to 40 cm in height, with hairy stems and leaves Deverra reboudii
3 Leaves oblong-ellipsoid, leaf sheath slightly inflated, longer than the leaf blade Deverra tortuosa
3 Leaves triangular, leaf sheath not inflated, shorter or the same length as the leaf blade 4
4 Leaves grouped almost in basal rosette, with lobes up to 12 mm long Deverra battandieri
4 Leaves not in basal rosette, almost all cauline, with lobes of more than 12 mm long 5
5 Bracts and petals hairless or shortly hairy. Fruits not densely covered with long hairs 6
5 Bracts and petals with long hairs. Fruits densely covered with long hair Deverra triradiata
6 Stems decumbent, prostrate. Petals white or light yellow. Fruits about 1 mm Deverra scoparia
6 Stems erect. Petals yellow-greenish. Fruits 2-4 mm long Deverra denudata
Updated by: M. Cueto & E. Giménez.