Cadaba rotundifolia Forssk.
Ara.: Ad dimmer, qormot, kurkut, kurmut (Sudan).
Shrub, highly branched, 1-2.5 m in height, exceptionally reaching up to 4 m. Young branchlets often pendulous or hanging, covered with short glandular hairs. Leaves alternate, coriaceous, long and broad (2.5-4.5 × 2.2-3.8 cm), glabrous or slightly puberulous, broadly ovate to orbicular, cordate at the base, with apex rounded or truncated and slightly notched (retuse) with a small mucro. Petiole 1-2 cm long, puberulous. Flowers in terminal corymbs, with peduncles 0.7-4 cm long, bracts trifid with central segment 1.5-1.8 mm long, pedicels 1-1.6 cm. Sepals 4, ovate, 5-8 × 3-4 mm, glandular on both surfaces, marginally puberulous. Petals 0. Stamens 4-5 (filaments 14-17 mm, anthers 2-2.5 mm) fused at the base of the gynophore into an androphore 2-3 mm. Gynophore (12-18 mm) with a yellow nectariferous appendix, highly visible, 17-20 mm, tubular and petaloid in appearance on the upper part. Ovary cylindrical (3-4.5 mm), densely glandular-pubescent, with flattened stigma, sessile. Fruit cylindrical, ± torulose, 1.5-5 × 0.2-0.8 cm, pubescent, eglandular.
Flowering:
January to March.
Fruiting:
February to April.
Habitat:
Scree slopes and coastal plains.
Distribution:
Coastal countries of NE Africa, from SE Egypt to Kenya and Arabian Peninsula.
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”.