Aerva javanica (Burm.f.) Juss. ex Schult.
Achyranthes javanica (Burm.f.) Pers., A. persica (Burm.f.) Merr.
Eng.: Desert cotton, kapok bush. Fra.: L’envahissante. Ara.: Celhaka, famia, chedjeret en nadja, shagaret el ghazal, kadjim bu ltuba, r’el, reil, turfa, erwa, alra, alreem, makhmila, ara, lara, elara, leru, sheiba, saba, ghibish (last 7 in Sudan), teoemmuya, rbôb, tûm-iya (last 3 in Niger), moghamlé (Hassanía). Tamahaq: Trimekerkezt, temkerkezt, témakarkezt, timqerkès, tamkerkaït, toemaekirjijit, taenaekaerzist, anukirjiz, amayo kundundjeri, tar’assuna.
Dioecious plant, perennial, with hardened stems only slightly lignified at the base, which can reach a subshrub, 0.5-1.5(2) m in height. All parts covered in a yellowish-white lanose indumentum. Leaves alternate, highly variable in shape and size (1.5-8 × 0.8-2.2 cm) obovate-oblong, those on flowering branches linear, tomentose and sessile or shortly petiolate. Inflorescence terminal, in the shape of a spike or branched at the base as in a panicle, sessile, cylindrical, dense, very long (up to 10 cm). Male plants with fewer inflorescences, in terminal leafless panicles. Bracts and bracteoles shorter than the perianth, ovate-deltoid, acute, densely lanose, persistent. Male flowers small, with a scarious perianth 1.5 to 2.3 mm, with 5 stamens, anthers longer than the filaments and a rudimentary pistil. Female plants with larger flowers, with scarious perianth consisting of 5 parts, 2 outer parts 2-3 mm, ovate-spatulate and 3 inner parts shorter and narrower. Ovary hemispherical with a thin style and 2 stigmas. It presents rudimentary stamens without anthers. Fruit a compressed capsule, 1 to 1.5 mm.
Flowering:
November to April and after rains in the central Sahara.
Fruiting:
No data for this region
Habitat:
Desert areas with sandy or stony substrate.
Distribution:
Sahara, Sahel and drier areas of eastern Africa, from Egypt to South Africa. In North Africa it is widely distributed throughout the Sahara and the Sahel, reaching to the NW up to the lower Drâa depression (Morocco) and, to the NE up to the Mediterranean in Libya and Egypt. It seems to be absent in Tunisia and nearby areas of the central-northern Sahara.
Conservation status:
It is a rare species, but it is not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
