Thymelaea villosa (L.) Endl.
Daphne villosa L.
Spa.: Torvisco albar, corra.
Subshrub up to 50(70) cm in height, gynodioecious. Erect stems (rarely decumbent); old stems sparsely pilose, ± defoliated, slender and often reddish-brown; young stems yellowish, with hairs 1-3 mm, ± erect-patent but not rigid. Leaves appressed-imbricated at the end of the young stems, more spaced apart and patent along the rest of their length; 6-11(13) × 1.4-2.5(4) mm, elliptic-lanceolate or ovate-elliptic, flat, with very short petiole, persistent, abundantly ciliate along the margin, sparsely ciliated on the both sides (hairs 1-3 mm). Inflorescences in glomeruli, with 1-5 flowers, ebracteate, at the end of short branches and main stems. Flowers unisexual and hermaphrodite, yellow (occasionally pink), ± tubular, female flowers 5-6.5 mm, hermaphrodite flowers 8-9 mm; hypanthium sparsely villous; sepals 2-3.5 mm, ovate-lanceolate, from acute to ± obtuse. Anthers yellow. Style subapical. Fruit nuciform, included in the hypanthium, with membranous and pilose pericarp. Seeds 2.1-2.8 × 1.2-1.6 mm, pyriform, with a curved apex and sheathed in a brown aril (caruncula), and a prominent chalaza.
Flowering:
April to July.
Fruiting:
May to August.
Habitat:
Thickets, heathlands and open forests of cork and evergreen oaks. Calcifuge. From almost sea level to about 1,500 m.
Distribution:
SW of the Iberian Peninsula and N of Morocco.
Conservation status:
Rare species and with small distribution area. 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 Endangered (EN).
