Diceratella elliptica (DC.) Jonsell
Matthiola elliptica DC., Pirazzia elliptica (DC.) Chiov.
Ara.: Hamboak.
Subshrub or shrublet, canescent grey, typically 50-75 cm in height. Branches rigid, erect-patent, decumbent or ascending, exceptionally reaching 1 m in height, densely covered with stellate greyish-white hairs. Rootstock clearly woody but young branches herbaceous. Leaves 1-4.5 × 0.7-2.5 cm, ovate to elliptic, usually entire, rarely somewhat dentate or sinuate, with long petioles 0.5-2 cm. Flowers in racemes, fragrant, sepals 1-1.7 cm, not sacciform at the base, and petals 2.5-3.5 × 1-1.5 cm, pale pink to violet. Silique 3-8 × 0.15-0.2 cm, rigid, torulose, sometimes slightly curved, covered with stellate hairs, keeled valves and an undeveloped stigmatic crest of the upper part of the silique. Without horns, as in the next genus Matthiola. Fruit peduncle erect or erect-patent, 0.7-1.5 cm long. Seed ellipsoid, 1.3-1.6 × 1-1.2 mm, slightly winged.
Flowering:
After rainfall, January to March.
Fruiting:
Approximately 1 month after flowering.
Habitat:
Scree slopes. From 150 to 2,000 m.
Distribution:
SE of Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, N of Kenya.
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 “Vulnerable”.