Cadaba farinosa Forssk.
Eng.: Esel-wood. Ara.: Azrom, qadab, szrom, zrumm, aezruutm, atilae-lhaïfba, sureim, sireih, zeraye, assal, zrumrn, aezruutm, atilae-lhaïba (last 3 in Niger), el sarih, surraya, surreh (last 3 in Sudan). Tamahaq: Abagoew, abogu, abagaw. Tubu: Harkané lifi. Mandinga: Démagugu, to-magny.
Shrub or small tree, 2-5(8) m in height, often lianoid, climbing on other trees and covered with scaly hairs and whitish sessile glands that give a farinose appearance. Leaves alternate, entire, slightly coriaceous, elliptic to obovate (0.4-4 × 0.3-2.5 cm), obtuse, often emarginate and more rarely subacute, covered with scaly hairs, farinose (at least when young) or more rarely glabrescent, greyish. Petiole short (2-4 mm). Stipules linear, yellowish or brown. Inflorescences terminal, racemose. Flowers zygomorphic, small. Petals 4, linear-lanceolate, somewhat elliptic [0.6-1(1.5) cm], unguiculate, greenish-yellowish, alternating with the sepals and much narrower than them. Sepals 4 (0,6-0.8 × 0.3-0.4 cm) ovate-lanceolate. Stamens 4-6, joined into an androgynophore or nectariferous tube (5-8 mm), half the length of the stamens and longer than the gynophore. Fruit subtorulose or cylindrical, somewhat fleshy, farinose, 2.2-4 × 0.2-0.3 cm. Seeds numerous, kidney-shaped, black, matt and rugose.
Flowering:
January to March, after rainfall.
Fruiting:
February to April.
Habitat:
On very diverse terrains in open forests, savannahs and desert areas, in semiarid to Saharan climate.
Distribution:
Northern tropical Africa and W Asia, reaching towards the E to India. In North Africa it is distributed mainly in the southern Sahara and the Sahel, reaching in the N, following maritime influence, to the S of Morocco and Egypt.
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the updated red list of Egypt (Shaltout & Bedair, 2023) it has been considered as Critically Endangered (CR).
