Zygophyllum cornutum Coss.
Z. album var. cornutum (Coss.) Murb., Tetraena cornuta (Coss.) Beier & Thulin.
Spa.: Morsana. Ara.: Äggaya, bu griba, tartir, haaka, khoressa, ensal, qillam, r’ardem. Tam.: Tayerta, tazluzt, haggaïa, tirta, moïlhe.
Evergreen suffrutex, hermaphrodite, ramose from the base, prostrate, with cylindrical branches; younger branches densely incanous-subtomentose, whitish. Leaves opposite, with cylindrical thick petiole, bifoliolate, fleshy leaflets, circular in cross section, oblong-linear, rarely oblong or oval-oblong, obtuse. Stipules opposite to the leaves, triangular, emarginate, connate. Flowers axillary, with erect-patent pedicels, shorter than the fruit. Sepals membranous, concave, ovate-oblong, obtuse, often reddish, with a dorsal side pubescent-subtomentose. Petals white, subequal in length to the calyx, oval suborbicular, unguiculate. Basal scales of the filaments rectangular. Fruit a schizocarp c. 1 cm long, acutely pentagonal, with a very short appressed indumentum. Inferior part narrowly obconic to cuneate and the top part with free carpels shaped like oblong-lanceolate horns, diverging.
Flowering:
February to June.
Fruiting:
No data for this region
Habitat:
Shores of chotts and sandy areas, on saline and chalky soils.
Distribution:
Northern Sahara, from Icht (Tata, Morocco) to the Gulf of Gabes and the island of Djerba (Tunisia), reaching to the S up to the mountainous areas of Mouydir and Tefedest, in the central Sahara (Algeria).
Conservation status:
A relatively common species and widely distributed. It is not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) it has been considered as Not applicable (NA).