Anthyllis barba-jovis L.
Eng.: Albaida, vetch. Spa.: Albaida. Fre.: Anthyllide barbe de Jupiter. Ara.: Chehebas, chehebaï, chermitha, hosir, rezdir.
Subshrub up to 1.5 m in height, hermaphrodite, evergreen, very ramose. Stems and branches strongly woody, with bark from brown to greyish in the older parts, and greyish in young branches, that peels off in longitudinal strips. Young branchlets only slightly lignified, greenish, but whitish in appearance due to being densely covered with silky-whitish hairs. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, with rachis villous-silky, with very short white hairs, with 4-9 pairs of leaflets, 10-22 mm, from linear-oblong to linear-lanceolate, entire, acute, attenuated at the base, sessile, silky on both sides, green or green-greyish on the upper side, greyish-silvery on the underside. Inflorescence capituliform, terminal or axillary, very dense, with 15-20 flowers, pedicellate, with villous-silky pedicels. Calyx 4.5 × 1.5 mm, tubular, divided at the end into 5 subequal triangular-lanceolate teeth, triangular-lanceolate, villous-silky, light green. Corolla 2-5 mm, papilionoid, whitish-yellowish in all its parts, with standard much longer than the wings and the keel. Androecium submonadelphous. Ovary cylindrical, with 6-8 rudimentary seminal primordia, style curved at right angle. Pod 4.5 × 2mm, oblong, straight, acuminate, surrounded by the persistent calyx with 1 seed. Seeds c. 2 × 1 mm, reniform, smooth.
Flowering:
April to July.
Fruiting:
July to August.
Habitat:
Thickets and littoral rocky outcrops, generally on slopes exposed to sea winds, in humid and subhumid environments.
Distribution:
Western half of the Mediterranean region. In North Africa it is found in Algeria (from near Annaba to the Tunisian border) and Tunisia (littoral mountains from the Algerian border to Cape Bon). Its presence is doubtful in Libya.
Conservation status:
A rare but widely distributed species, not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Tunisia it is included in its List of native species that are rare and threatened with extinction (Order of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, 19-July-2006).