Rubia tenuifolia d’Urv.
R. olivieri A. Rich.
Eng.: Narrow-leaved madder.
Small shrub, 40-80 cm in height; scrambling or climbing, with scabrid or glabrescent branches. Leaves grouped in brachyblasts of 4-6 leaves, 0.6-1.8 × 0.3-0.5 cm, oblong or elliptical, ± linear, rigid, coriaceous, with clearly visible dorsal vein and scabrid along margins with retrorse hairs and mucronate apex. Flowers small, arranged in axillary cymes shorter than the leaves, with few flowers. Corolla 5-7 mm in diameter, rotate, yellowish-green, with 5 lanceolate lobes. Fruit globose 4-5 mm, drupe-like, black.
Flowering:
March to May.
Fruiting:
In the months following flowering.
Habitat:
Clear forests, thickets and rocky outcrops on very diverse substrates. From arid to subhumid bioclimate, on inframediterranean and thermomediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Sinai Peninsula, Palestine, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, Aegean Islands, Turkey, Iraq.
Conservation status:
Uncommon 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) R. tenuifolia is listed as “Endangered”.