Gomphocarpus sinaicus Boiss.
Asclepias sinaica (Boiss.) Muschl.
Ara. (Egypt): Hargal barri, gheil.
Shrub, yellowish-green, hermaphrodite, 0.5-1.2 m, with tomentose indumentum. Stems numerous, simple, leafy, emerging from the base. Leaves 3-8 × 0.4-0.8 cm, petiolated (2-4 mm), linear-lanceolate, with revolute margin, acute at the apex and attenuated at the base. Inflorescence in axillary umbels, pedunculate. Corolla 15-25 cm in diameter, yellowish, with ovate and acute lobes, pubescent on the exterior. Corona with 5 lobes, with entire margin, arising from the gynostegium. Fruit a follicle (4-6.5 × 1.2-1.5 cm), lanceolate, tapering into a beak, tomentose-farinose, with small, weak pinkish spines and with greenish-white bands. Seeds with a tuft of hairs.
Flowering:
January.
Fruiting:
March to June.
Habitat:
Stony deserts.
Distribution:
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt (Sinai Peninsula and eastern desert). Introduced in Morocco (Fennane, 2021).
Observations:
Another species of this genus, G. fruticosus (L.) W.T.Aiton (Asclepias fruticosa L.) originally from South Africa, is now naturalised and seems to be expanding in the Mediterranean region; its stems are slightly woody, but the whole plant can reach 1.5(2) m in height, with large linear-lanceolate leaves, white flowers and follicles upright with filiform-conic tips.
Conservation status:
Rare species with a small distribution area. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the updated red list of Egypt (Shaltout & Bedair, 2023) it has been considered as Vulnerable (VU).