Rubia tenuifolia d’Urv.
R. olivieri A. Rich.
Eng.: Narrow-leaved madder.
Small shrub, 40-80 cm in height; scrambling or climbing, with scabrid or glabrescent branches. Leaves grouped in brachyblasts of 4-6 leaves, 0.6-1.8 × 0.3-0.5 cm, oblong or elliptical, ± linear, rigid, coriaceous, with clearly visible dorsal vein and scabrid along margins with retrorse hairs and mucronate apex. Flowers small, arranged in axillary cymes shorter than the leaves, with few flowers. Corolla 5-7 mm in diameter, rotate, yellowish-green, with 5 lanceolate lobes. Fruit globose 4-5 mm, drupe-like, black.
Flowering:
March to May.
Fruiting:
In the months following flowering.
Habitat:
Clear forests, thickets and rocky outcrops on very diverse substrates. From arid to subhumid bioclimate, on inframediterranean and thermomediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Sinai Peninsula, Palestine, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, Aegean Islands, Turkey, Iraq.
Conservation status:
Uncommon but widely distributed species. 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 Least Concern (LC). In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) R. tenuifolia is listed as “Endangered”.
