Boscia angustifolia A.Rich.
Eng.: Rough-leaved shepherds tree. Ara.: Shajeret almarfin, sereh, sehel, sehe, surreh (last 2 in Sudan). Mandinga: Bèrédé, diaba guinadiu, guineguiu, somon késébéré, tiekoni kolo, tutigui. Hausa: Agahini, ballakani. Tamahaq: Tadent.
Shrub or small tree, 2-4(7) m in height, evergreen, highly branched, with rounded crown. Trunk smooth, greyish and young branches glabrous or somewhat pubescent. Leaves alternate on the branches of the current year but grouped in brachyblasts on older parts of the plant, rigid, oblanceolate to obovate, 2.5-6 × 0.7-2 cm, cuneate at the base, acute or retuse, rounded and mucronate, light green and glabrous, with mid and lateral veins often prominent on the upper side. Petiole 3-5 mm long. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, corymbiform, with 3-10 flowers, rachis glabrous or puberulous 3-6 cm. Bracts 4-5 mm long, ciliate-pubescent. Flowers actinomorphic, minute, up to 0.5 cm, with 4-8 mm pedicels. Sepals 4, ovate-elliptic, 4-5 × 1.5-2 mm. Petals 0. Stamens 5-9, filaments 2-4 mm and anthers 1 mm long. Gynophore glabrous, 1-2 mm. Ovary ovoid, 1-1.7 mm long, flattened at the top; stigma subsessile. Fruit a globose nutlet, 1-3 cm in diameter, pustulate, sometimes papillose, reddish, with numerous seeds.
Flowering:
February to March.
Fruiting:
February to March.
Habitat:
Stony places, fissures of rocks in high areas (in Egypt), silty alluvial plains in the Saharan and sub-Saharan areas.
Distribution:
Tropical and Saharo-Arabian; North Africa and Middle East. Mauritania, Senegal, SE Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Chad, Tanzania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia.
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) it is listed as “Endangered”.