Santolina pectinata Lag.
S. rosmarinifolia auct., non L., S. canescens auct., non Lag.
Spa.: Meaperros, botonera. Fre.: Santoline. Ara.: Qeiçun, djissun, uadmi labiod, djaada, arfedj, ayrar, tayrart, ayayer, tayyart. Tam.: Timerit, tibuduchin.
Subshrub, evergreen, hermaphrodite, up to 0.8(1) m in height, ramose, erect, dense. Stems tortuous at the base, then straight, woody. Bark greyish-brown. Young branches slightly or not woody, herbaceous, striated, glabrescent, green. Leaves (1-4 × 0.1-0.4 cm), very elongated, linear, obtuse, subamplexicaul, rugose, with a margin with small lobules or teeth, revolute, deep green or greyish-green on the upper side and whitish on the underside. Inflorescence in solitary terminal capitula, 12-20 mm in diameter, hemispherical, yellow, very dense, with all flowers in disc florets. Fruit a very small achene, subtetragonal, without ribs.
Flowering:
In spring to summer.
Fruiting:
1-2 months later.
Habitat:
Forests, thickets and grasslands in ± mountainous areas (1,000-1,800 m). From semiarid to humid bioclimate, on mesomediterranean and supramediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Endemic to southern Spain and NW Africa. In North Africa it is found in Morocco in the Rif, Middle Atlas, High Atlas and Saharan Atlas, and in Algeria in the Saharan Atlas and the Kabylias.
Observations:
Another similar species that may also reach up to 1 m in height is S. africana Jord. & Fourr. [Ormenis africana (Jord. & Fourr.) Litard. & Maire]. As in S. pectinata, it also presents involucral bracts with a scarious appendage longly decurrent along the margin, but the leaves of the fertile stems are pinnatipartite, with clear linear divisions, arranged in 2 rows, and the achenes have 3 clear longitudinal ribs. A species from the dry mountain areas and steppes with little vegetation, sometimes becoming the dominant species. It is endemic to the Saharan Atlas, High Atlas and Middle Atlas, and the steppic plateaux of NW Morocco and N Algeria. The third species of this genus in the region is S. adscensionis Maire, very rare plant, endemic to the dry clayey hills near the Jebel Tendri (eastern Rif); with woolly capitula, outer involucral bracts with a short brown appendage, and middle and inner bracts without appendage or with a scarious appendage barely developed and shortly decurrent along the margin of the bract.
Conservation status:
Currently, none of these species have been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.