Anabasis prostrata Pomel
Spa.: Gurullos. Fre.: Anabasis.
Evergreen subshrub, hermaphrodite, creeping with articulated stems up to 2 m long, very rarely or never eaten by herbivores. Main stem strongly woody, up to 3 cm in diameter. Bark greyish, longitudinally fissured in older stems and branches. Branchlets dull green in colour, very short and thick internodes compared to other species of the genus, sometimes wider than long, usually slightly thicker in the centre (2-7 mm diameter). Leaves opposite, very small, squamiform, amplexicaul, fused together and with the stem forming a bidentate dome at the nodes; each tooth is a leaf, with a scarious margin, obtuse, usually with a small mucro. Flowers hermaphrodite, axillary, grouped in spiciform inflorescences at the end of the branchlets. Perianth with 5 unequal parts: the 3 outer ones oval-suborbicular and the 2 internal ones narrowly oval; all obtuse. Fruit a berry with a seed shaped as a spiral, arranged vertically. Fruit perianth with 5 wings, intense pink or purple in colour.
Flowering:
September to December.
Fruiting:
October to January.
Habitat:
Rocky, loamy and clayey soils in dry and semiarid environments.
Distribution:
Endemic to North Africa. Coastal and subcoastal areas from the central Rif to the Chlef River Valley (near Algiers). Inland, it has been cited in Jorf Taourirt, plains E of Tissaf (Morocco).
Conservation status:
It is a rare species but in principle it is not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Algeria it is included in the List of protected non cultivated flora (Executive Decree 12-03 on 4-Jan-2012).