Suaeda ifniensis Caball. ex Maire
Eng.: Sea-blite. Spa.: Sosa, almajo dulce. Fre.: Soude pruineuse. Ara.: Darmus el bil, daghmuss al ibel, suida.
Subshrub or small shrub that can reach up to 0.5 m in height, with green herbaceous parts that blacken slightly when dry. Stems decumbent-ascending, lignified and very ramose from the base, with branches from the current year whitish, somewhat pubescent, erect. Leaves alternate, tightly arranged or in dense axillary fascicles, subcylindrical, with pronounced angles (keeled), long, 8 to 20 mm, acute and apiculate at the apex. Flowers 1(2) in the leaf axils with 2 scarious bracteoles, oval, acuminate; hermaphrodite flowers with 5 subcucullate sepals, keeled, fused 1/3 of its length, 5 stamens shorter than the perianth, ovary subconical with 3 stigmas shortly subulate; female flowers, similar but with aborted stamens. Fruit perianth 0.25-3.5 mm in diameter, subglobose, scarious, loosely wrapping the fruit. Seed horizontal or vertical, ovoid-subreniform, black and smooth, 1 mm in diameter.
Flowering:
March to July and after the Saharan rains.
Fruiting:
No data for this region
Habitat:
Halophyte plant. Steppic areas, screes and saline and sandy soils, sabkhas of arid and desert zones, coastal and sublittoral areas.
Distribution:
Western Sahara and the Canary Islands. In North Africa it grows in the coastal and subcostal Atlantic region, from lower Cape Nun (S of Ifni) to Cabo Blanco (Mauritania).
Conservation status:
It is a common and even locally abundant species. It is not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.