THYMELAEACEAE Juss.

Family composed of 54 genera and about 940 species of subshrubs (rarely shrubs, lianas or herbaceous plants), with a cosmopolitan distribution. In North Africa it is represented by 2 genera, largely composed of shrubby and subshrubby species. A peculiar characteristic of the species of this family in the region is their perianth, consisting of a single subtubular whorl. This structure has been called a perigon, floral tube, calyx tube or calyx, but according to recent anatomical studies (Bunninger, 1972), it should be called a hypanthium; the latter has been already used in some studies such as in Flora iberica (Feliner Nieto, 1997).