Coronilla juncea L.
Eng.: Rush-like scorpion-vetch. Spa.: Coronilla. Ara.: Ayatt, zaza. Tam.: Atartag.
Shrub, up to 2 m in height, hermaphrodite, erect, with base of the main stems clearly woody. Stems and younger branches hollow, arundinaceous, with several false longitudinal ribs, glabrous, green. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, with flattened petiole, with 3-7 leaflets, 5-28 × 1-5 mm, subequal, obovate or oblong, entire, with rounded apex, mucronate or not, subsessile, glabrous and glaucescent on both sides. Inflorescence umbelliform, axillary, on a peduncle longer than the subtending leaf, with 4-13 flowers that are borne on the same point. Calyx 2.2-3.3 mm, campanulate, with upper lip longer, ending in 2 small teeth and lower lip with 3 teeth or lobes broadly oval-triangular, glabrous, greenish. Corolla 7-15 mm, papilionoid, yellow, with wings longer than the standard and the keel, with a claw or basal tail of the petals almost entirely included in the calyx. Androecium subdiadelphous. Ovary cylindrical, dilated at the apex, glabrous, with style curved at right angle at the base and discoid stigma. Pod lomentaceous, cylindrical, straight and pendant, with 3-11 segments with clearly marked separation between them and easily disarticulating; within each segment there is usually a longly ovoid seed, brown, straight and with a smooth surface.
Flowering:
March to July; however it can be considerably earlier or later depending on the region.
Fruiting:
May to August.
Habitat:
Forest clearings, thickets and rocky outcrops, mainly on clayey calcareous, loamy soils sometimes also slaty, almost from sea level up to about 1,000 m in altitude, in semiarid to subhumid environments.
Distribution:
Western Mediterranean region. In North Africa is rare, but it can be found in thickets and steppes of almost the entire Mediterranean area (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) and the Algerian Mzab (central northern Sahara). There are 2 subspecies: C. juncea subsp. juncea, widely distributed, and C. juncea subsp. pomelii Batt., only known from Morocco and Algeria.
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species, 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.