Greuteria membranacea (Coss. & Balansa) Amirahmadi & Kaz. Osaloo
Hedysarum membranaceum Coss. & Balansa
Evergreen shrub, hermaphrodite, up to 2(3) m in height, very ramose, with branching erect or, in larger and older specimens, extended-upright. Trunk and older branches with brownish-grey bark. Young branches (of a few years) angular, brown-greenish, younger branches green, with short and appresed hairs. Leaves 3-6 cm long, alternate, slightly or not at all fleshy, rigid, with “normal” rachis compared to other Fabaceae species with imparipinnate leaves, compressed, with 7-17 leaflets, opposite or subopposite (plus one terminal), small (0.4-0.9 cm long), linear-oblong, briefly attenuated at the base, with petiolule 1-3 mm, green on both sides but glabrous on the underside and covered with fine and applied hairs on the upper side. Inflorescence in racemes, axillary, sparses, with 2-5 flowers (sometimes solitary flowers), shortly pedicellate. Calyx campanulate, with 5 subequal teeth, shorter than the tube, green, silky. Corolla papilionoid, with petals from whitish-yellowish to pinkish. Androecium diadelphous. Ovary semicylindrical, stipitate. Pod whitish-greenish, oblong, highly compressed, papery, divided into 2-3 ellipsoid-orbicular segments, each with a seed inside.
Flowering:
March to June.
Fruiting:
Mayt to August. Sometimes (as seen in the photograph), the same plant can have both mature flowers and fruits at the same time.
Habitat:
Stony, rocky, sandy terrains on mountain slopes, also on beds and margins of temporary streams. From almost sea level to at least 1,350 m in altitude
Distribution:
Endemic to the Mediterranean areas of SW of Morocco. Anti-Atlas, High Atlas and mid-Atlantic Morocco.
Conservation status:
G. membranacea is fairly rare species and with a very 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 Near Threatened (NT).