Daphne L.
Genus composed of about 92 species of Palaearctic distribution. In North Africa it is represented by 4 species of small shrubs or subshrubs with a Mediterranean distribution. Two of them are creeping subshrubs:
D. oleoides Schreb. is a tortuous subshrub, highly branched, often prostrate, rarely exceeding 0.5 m in height, with very small leaves, coriaceous and glabrous; inflorescences in capituliform terminal fascicles of 3-7 flowers (9-13 mm long) and red or orange fruits; it is distributed along southern Europe and major Mediterranean islands; in North Africa it grows very localised in some limestone rocky outcrops of the mountains of Kabylia and Aures Massif (Algeria). It has also been cited, on siliceous substrate, in the Jebel Ukaimeden (High Atlas, Morocco), but its presence here seems doubtful.
D. jasminea Sibth. & Sm. subsp. jarmilae Halda, a creeping subshrub, with tortuous stems and small mucronate coriaceous leaves, with characteristic purple flowers (rarely whitish or yellowish) solitary or in pairs; it is a rare endemic species that only grows in NE Libya (Jebel Akhdar), while the type species is from Greece.
D. oleoides is rarer and D. jasminea is much rarer and with a small distribution. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Key to species
1 Subshrubs or shrublets 5-50 cm in height 2
1 Subshrubs or erect shrubs, up to 1-2 m in height. Inflorescence in axillary racemes, or terminal panicles 3
2 Cushion-shaped subshrub, with tortuous stems. Flowers white. Inflorescence in terminal capituliform fascicles of 3-7 flowers Daphne oleoides
2 Creeping subshrub,with small mucronate coriaceous leaves and characteristic purple flowers solitary or in pairs Daphne jasminea
3 Leaves large (3-12 cm long), obtuse. Inflorescence in axillary racemes. Fruit black Daphne laureola
3 Leaves smaller (1.5-4 cm long), acute. Inflorescence in terminal panicles. Fruit red Daphne gnidium
Updated by: H. Sainz.