Thymelaea microphylla Coss. & Durieu ex Meisn.
Spa.: Boalaga sahariana. Fre.: Passerine à petites feuilles. Ara.: Agaras, metenan el abiod, metnen rhazel, methanane el rhozlane, metnan, metnene, lezzaz, belganbu. Tam: Metsnan amellal.
Shrub up to 100 cm in height (rarely taller), that branches profusely from near the base, monoecious. Branches long, arched at first, but promptly straight and erect. Older stems glabrous or ± tomentose, without leaves. Young stems white-tomentose, conspicuous compared to other parts of the plant. Leaves spaced, except in the very short floral stems, where they are imbricated; always appressed, 1-2.5 × 0.5-1.5 mm, ± ovate or elliptic-lanceolate, obtuse, flat, sessile, pubescent both sides. Inflorescences in glomeruli, with 2-5 flowers, ebracteate, at the end of very short brachyblasts and therefore seemingly axillary. Flowers unisexual (male flowers with a rudimentary ovary), female flowers 3-4 mm, male flowers 4-6 mm, ± tubiform, yellow or yellow-greenish; hypanthium pubescent; sepals 0.5-1 mm, ovate, obtuse, the overlapping pair of sepals with a partial indumentum on their inner face. Fruit nuciform, included in the hypanthium, with pericarp membranous and pilose on the upper third. Seeds 2.5-2.6 × 1.4-1.6 mm, ± pyriform, with a straight apex and ± prominent chalaza hidden by a brown aril 0.4-0.6 mm in diameter.
Flowering:
February to June.
Fruiting:
May to August.
Habitat:
Sandy (not with dunes), sandy-loamy (sometimes somewhat saline) or rocky terrains of steppic and desert regions. Characteristic species of overgrazed sandy steppes. From about 20 m to 1,200 m in height.
Distribution:
Endemic to North Africa. Algerian-Moroccan steppes, between the Tellian Atlas and the Saharan Atlas, and steppes in southern Tunisia, base of the Saharan Atlas and northern Sahara from E of Morocco to NW Libya. Its presence in Chad should be ruled out as extraordinarily unlikely and is unconfirmed.
Conservation status:
Rare (although sometimes locally abundant) but widely distributed species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.