Otostegia fruticosa (Forssk.) Penz.
Clinopodium fruticosum Forssk.
Shrub hermaphrodite, grey-tomentose, up to 2 m in height, with numerous branched stems, rigid and with a velvety indumentum. Leaves opposite, petiolate, with petiole 0.2-2.5 cm and leaf blade from 0.5-5 × 0.6-4 cm, broadly ovate, obtuse, with cuneate or truncated base, crenate, hairy. Inflorescence in spikes of verticillasters; verticillasters ± spaced apart, with 4-8 flowers and subulate bracteoles up to 15 mm, shorter or longer than half of the calyx tube. Calyx 8-10 mm, with obconic tube with 10 veins, tomentose, and scarious, bilabiate limb, with upper lip short and lower lip much wider and tongue-shaped. Corolla bilabiate, hairy, 15-20 mm, with tube shorter than calyx, upper lip straight, and lower lip ± patent and trilobulate. Androecium with 4 didynamous stamens, included in the upper lip of the corolla. Nutlets obovoid, truncate.
Flowering:
February to April
Fruiting:
April to June.
Habitat:
Desert areas.
Distribution:
Central and eastern Africa, Sinai Peninsula, Arabian Peninsula, reaching in the N up to Palestine, Israel and Jordan. In North Africa it is found in the eastern parts of Egypt, including the Sinai Peninsula and Sudan.
Observations:
In North Africa it is represented by 2 clearly defined subspecies. O. fruticosa subsp. fruticosa is larger, reaching 2 m in height, with larger leaves, with petiole 1.5-2.5 cm and leaf blade 1.5-5 × 1-4 cm, branches internodes less than twice the length of the leaves of each node, and verticillaster bracteoles 2-6 mm and shorter than half the calyx tube. It has a distribution range extending from the N of Cameroon to the Arabian Peninsula and, in the study area, it is located in the E of Egypt and E of Sudan. O. fruticosa subsp. schimperi (Benth.) Sebald is smaller, not exceeding 80 cm in height, with smaller leaves, with petiole 0.2-1.5 cm and leaf blade 0.5-3.5 × 0.6-2.8 cm, branches internodes substantially longer than twice the length of the leaves of each node, and verticillaster bracteoles up to 15 mm and longer than half the calyx tube. It is found in NE Egypt (Sinai Peninsula) E Sudan and the Arabian 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. In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) it is listed as “Indeterminate”.