Calligonum azel Maire
Fre.: Calligone azel. Ara.: Azel, laazel. Tamahaq: Annag.
Shrub hermaphrodite, erect, up to 6 m in height. Highly branched, but not tortuous, and with a well defined main stem, up to 10-15 cm in diameter. White bark and young branches green, up to 68 cm long, smooth, ± glaucous during periods of extreme drought, sometimes somewhat striated, with internodes 3.4-9.6 mm, that easily break up during very dry periods. Old branches with white to grey and fissured bark. Leaves ephemeral, alternate, sessile, subulate, glabrous, 1.5-5 mm in length. Flowers in fascicles of 2-4 or solitary, arising from the nodes on a short pedicel (3-5 mm). Perianth with 6 tepals white or pinkish, with a green thickening on the dorsal side. Stamens 10-16, anthers white-yellowish and filaments fused at the base forming a papery disk. Styles 4, 3-4 mm in length, with light pink capitate stigmas. Fruit an achene, brown, oblong-fusiform, 10-12 × 5-6 mm, slightly twisted, covered with numerous highly branched hairs, barely revealing the surface of the achene (hairs 15 mm); with 4 wide and flat ribs, covered entirely by 12-16 rows of free hairs, dilated at the base, pink, very fragile. Ribs separated by 4 narrow valleculae, smooth and glabrous. Achenes with 4 longitudinal grooves, 4-lobed in cross section.
Flowering:
February to April
Fruiting:
1-2 months after flowering, but it is not unusual to see flowers and fruits at the same time on the same plant.
Habitat:
Saharan dunes, proliferating especially on the slopes.
Distribution:
Endemic to North Africa. In ergs of the eastern side of the northern Sahara, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, reaching Tassili-n-Ajjer. It is also known in the eastern Sahara, in Morocco.
Conservation status:
It is a relatively common and widespread species. It is 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).