Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal
Eng.: Poison gooseberry, or winter cherry. Ara.: Habb el lahw, lahw, bellahw, abeb, abed, semm el far, semm fraakh, ferkaï, sekran, bu rlani, saharaui, zafua, sukun lama, urq ech chefa; the fruit: mordjan, morgaan. Tamahaq: Terrumt, faraorao, faghaoghao, têghida n’ûggûr, shighidad n-aeggur.
Evergreen shrub, hermaphrodite, up to 1 m in height, branched, with dense indumentum of branched, applied and white hairs. Leaves alternate, petiolate, with petiole up to 3 cm and leaf blade 9 × 7.5 cm, ovate, elliptic or oblanceolate, acute or subobtuse, cuneate at the base, green and glabrous or with some hairs along the midrib on the upper side and with white-greyish indumentum on the underside. Flowers solitary or more often geminate or in groups of up to 8 flowers, sessile or shortly pedicellate, yellowish-green; pedicel up to 3 mm with white, dense indumentum. Calyx 3-6 mm and campanulate during flowering, and up to 20 mm, urceolate and pubescent during fruiting, with 5 teeth 1.5-3 mm, linear or narrowly triangular. Corolla with 5 fused petals, 4.5-7.5 mm, campanulate, with tube 3-5 mm and 5 lobes 1.5-3.5 × 1-3 mm, densely pubescent on the external face. Stamens inserted almost at the base of the corolla tube, included, with filaments ± of the same length, glabrous. Style included. Fruit a berry of 5-8 mm, completely included in the calyx, spherical, green at first then reddish.
Flowering:
Virtually all year round, but especially during the summer.
Fruiting:
1-2 months after flowering. There can be flowers and mature fruits at the same time.
Habitat:
Edges of rivers and streams, ditches, crop margins, in ± ruderal and nitrophilous areas.
Distribution:
Southern Europe, North Africa, SW Asia and Canary and Cape Verde Islands. Relatively common in coastal and subcoastal areas from Morocco to Egypt, including the Sinai Peninsula.
Conservation status:
Common and widespread species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
