Kickxia heterophylla (Schousb.) Dandy
K. gracilis D.A. Sutton, Linaria heterophylla (Schousb.) Steudel non Desf., Antirrhinum heterophyllum Schousboe.
Perennial plant, woody at the base, deciduous, hermaphrodite, subglabrous or white-tomentose at the base, up to 70 cm in height, branched, with divaricate branches. Leaves mostly petiolate, with petiole 2-16 mm; lower leaves 4-25 × 4-14 mm, ovate, elliptic or suborbicular, obtuse, with base rounded, cuneate or sometimes hastate; cauline leaves from oblong to linear, acute. Flowers solitary, axillary, with pedicel 6-15(20) mm, erect-patent or patent, slender (up to 0.3 mm) and somewhat rigid. Calyx with 5 lobes 3-4.5 mm, ovate or lanceolate, acute or acuminate, with scarious margin at the bottom, glabrous or laxly puberulent-glandular. Corolla 18-28 mm (including the spur), yellow, laxly hairy-glandular, with unequal lips and spur 14-18 mm, much longer than the rest of the corolla, slender, straight or slightly curved. Capsules 2.5-4 mm, ovoid-oblongish, with subequal cavities and valvular dehiscence. Seeds 0.5-0.65 mm, echinulate-tuberculate.
Flowering:
February to June.
Fruiting:
March to August.
Habitat:
Mountains and hills in arid or desert areas ± coastal.
Distribution:
Mediterranean and Saharo-tropical distribution, from the Canary Islands to the Red Sea; it has also been cited in the Sinai 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.