Pergularia tomentosa L.
Daemia tomentosa (L.) Pomel, Asclepias cordata Forssk.
Eng.: Pergularia. Fre.: Tanin, pergularie. Ara.: Rulgua, omm el labina, demia, aleg, sellakha, mmu jlud, ghalaga, umm el-laban, laban el-homara (last 3 in Egypt). Tamahaq: Tahckat, tazzert, toêzoert, taskat, toeshilshit.
Subshrub, evergreen, hermaphrodite, erect, 0.5-1.2 m in height, grey-canescent, with milky sap. Stems lignified at the base, with young herbaceous branches that intertwine with the older ones. Leaves opposite (1.5-5.5 × 1.4 cm), cordate, broadly ovate-orbicular, with petiole 0.5-1.2 cm. Inflorescence corymbiform. Flowers with long pedicels (1-2.5 cm), pentamerous, often scented with a sweet odour; sepals 2-3.5 mm, pubescent; corolla (0.8-1.1 cm) with white petals and lobes (6-8 mm) tinted pink, pubescent on the outside. Fruit a follicle that narrows towards the apex, semifused at the base with another follicle, both ovate-acuminate (4.5-6.5 × 1.2-1.5 cm) with its surface covered by appendages ± conical, upright, of the same fleshy texture and brown-green colour of the outer shell of the fruit. Seeds with a tuft of hairs.
Flowering:
February to April.
Fruiting:
May to June.
Habitat:
Very diverse terrain, rocky slopes, rocky outcrops, regs, sometimes also on clayey and sandy soils, in desert and subdesert environments.
Distribution:
Uncommon species but widely distributed throughout the Sahara and other desert areas of Western Asia, up to Pakistan. In N Africa, it reaches the north to the southern slopes of the Anti Atlas, the eastern High Atlas and the Saharan Atlas. It reaches the Mediterranean in central and southern Tunisia, Libya and, in Egypt, at least also in Sidi Barrani and El-Omayed.
Observations:
P. daemia (Forssk.) Chiov. is a climbing herb, 1-3 m in height, differentiated from P. tomentosa, besides its size, by having slender leaves, glabrous or pubescent (but not tomentose), with longer pedicels (>4 cm) and smaller seeds (4-7 × 2-4 mm). It is distributed across all tropical areas of Africa, especially S of the Sahara up to South Africa, and it widely penetrates South Asia to Myanmar.
Conservation status:
Rare species but widely distributed. P. tomentosa is not currently assessed globally on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species; On the other hand, P. daemia is listed as Least Concern (LC) at a global level (Plummer, 2020). In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) P. tomentosa has been considered as Least Concern (LC). In the updated red list of Egypt (Shaltout & Bedair, 2023) it has been considered as Least Concern (LC).