Ononis tridentata subsp. mauretanica (Maire) Agulló, Juan, M.Á. Alonso, Terrones & M.B. Crespo
O. tridentata var. mauretanica Maire
Eng.: Restharrow. Spa.: Garbancillo. Fre.: Bugrane.
Shrub up to 1.2 m in height, unarmed, hermaphrodite, evergreen, highly branched, erect. Stems and old branches tortuous, with brownish bark, glabrescent. Young branchlets tomentose-whitish. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate, or leaves of the floral part unifoliolate, petiolate, with stipules partially fused to the petiole, leaflets 10-17 × 2.8-6.5 mm, somewhat thick, obovate-cuneate, with 3-9 teeth in the middle or the distal third, green, glabrous or puberulous-glanduliferous. Inflorescences axillary, peduncle with a caducous arista 0.5-1.75 mm, with 1-2 pedicellate flowers. Calyx 6-8.8 mm, with glanduliferous and eglandular hairs, greenish, deeply split into 5 lanceolate teeth, sometimes bidenticulate, longer than the tube. Corolla 8-13.5 mm, papilionoid, with a hairy standard, pink or pinkish-white, wings and keel white, the keel falcate and with a pink tip. Androecium monadelphous, with 10 stamens. Ovary hairy and capitated stigma. Pod 11-13 mm, subcylindrical, villous very exserted, with 1 seed. Seeds 2-3 mm, reniform, finely papillose, brown.
Flowering:
April to May.
Fruiting:
May to June.
Habitat:
Thickets, in loamy or loamy-gypsum soils, between 900-1,100 m in altitude.
Distribution:
NW Morocco (Aknul).
Observations:
A further 3 subspecies are recognised, endemic to the Iberian Peninsula.
Conservation status:
The species is rare but widely distributed; it is not considered threatened. However, subsp. mauretanica is much rarer and unknown. Currently, O. tridentata has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.