Mercurialis elliptica Poir
Eng.: Dog’s mercury.
Dioecious subshrub, up to 50(70) cm in height, with numerous woody tetragonal stems, erect, greenish-glaucescent, glabrous, with leaves along the entire length. Leaves (8)18-40(50) × (4)6-12(17) mm, opposite, elliptical to elliptical-lanceolate, with crenate-dentate margin and obtuse apex, coriaceous, with petiole 4-8(10) mm; with 2 glands at the base of the leaf blade and a terminal gland in each of the teeth; stipules 1-1.5 × 0.2-0.3 mm, membranous, persistent, greenish, narrowly triangular. Inflorescences spiciform, terminal, up to 5 cm, with peduncle 2-3 cm, with male flowers clustered (6-8) in small glomeruli around the female flowers, which are solitary or clustered in whorls of 2-5. Flowers without petals, greenish. Sepals 3, about 1.5 mm, broadly ovate, glabrous, fused at the base. Stamens 8-25. Ovary with 2(3-4) carpels; styles divergent, papery. Fruit a subglobose capsule (2.5)3-3.5 × 3.5-4 mm, glabrous, with 2(3-4) monospermic mericarps; peduncle up to 10(20) mm. Seeds 2.2-2.5 × 1.8-2 mm, broadly ovoid, smooth, dark grey, carunculate. The photos show the var. trichogyna Maire and Wilczek with hispid ovary and capsule with the posterior part with sharp, whitish hairs, widened at the base (Vindt, 1953).
Flowering:
January to July.
Fruiting:
April to September.
Habitat:
Acidic, sandy and rocky-sandy terrains, from sea level to about 500 m in altitude, in semiarid to humid environment.
Distribution:
An Iberian-Maghrebi endemic species. SW region of the Iberian Peninsula and northern Morocco (Middle Atlas, High Atlas and western Anti-Atlas).
Observations:
M. reverchonii Rouy is the other species of the genus in the region which might be considered due to by its size and lignification. It has a woody base but stems are usually herbaceous, leaves opposite, clearly petiolate, and fruits with only 2 cocci; it is easily identified also because it is covered in hirsute hairs and has ovate or ovate-lanceolate leaves. It is also an Iberian-Maghrebi endemic from the SW region of the Iberian Peninsula and northern Morocco.
Conservation status:
Species with restricted distributions but do not seem threatened. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) M. elliptica has been considered as Near Threatened (NT) and M. reverchonii as Vulnerable (VU).