Withania adpressa (Coss.) Batt.
Spa.: Oroval sahariano. Fre.: Withania du Sahara. Ara.: Uaruari, irremet, hjuju, aglim, irramt.
Evergreen shrub, hermaphrodite, up to 1.5(2) m in height, highly ramose, with tortuous stems and branches. Bark whitish, with stems and old branches somewhat fissured; smooth in young branches. Branchlets from greyish-green to white. Leaves (1-6 × 0.8-3 cm) from ovate to suborbicular or broadly lanceolate, obtuse, cuneate or rounded at the base, with entire margin, leaf blade sometimes flat, but generally undulate, coriaceous, glabrescent, greenish-whitish on the upper side and glaucous or whitish on the underside, sometimes whitish on both sides. Flowers solitary, geminate or rarely ternate, greenish-whitish. Calyx cup-shaped with 5 triangular teeth, slightly recurved backwards or not recurved. Corolla with wide tube, ending in 5 triangular lobes with tip recurved backwards. Stamens and pistil included. Fruit a globose berry 5-8 mm in diameter, completely enclosed by the persistent calyx, touching the fruit.
Flowering:
Almost throughout the year, especially after rainfall.
Fruiting:
Almost at any time of the year. In the same locality there can be flowers and mature fruits at the same time.
Habitat:
Rocky soils and especially in sandy-loamy depressions in rocky deserts or hamadas.
Distribution:
Endemic to North Africa (Morocco and Algeria). Lower areas of the eastern High Atlas, eastern Anti-Atlas, western Saharan Atlas and northern-western Sahara. It has been cited in the western Sahara in littoral and sublittoral areas, but according to Lebrun (1998) this species does not grow in this area.
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 Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) it has been considered as Near Threatened (NT). In Algeria it is included in the List of protected non cultivated flora (Executive Decree 12-03 on 4-Jan-2012).