Perralderia coronopifolia Coss.
Ara.: Lahiet et tis. Tam.: Auarhad, thafs, ttafès, ttafus, tafr’a.
Subshrub pubescent-glandular, up to 50 cm in height. Leaves pinnatisect or bipinnatisect, glabrous or glandular-pubescent, with linear and entire divisions. Capitula solitary, 2.5-3.5 cm in diameter, with all flowers in disc florets and hermaphrodite, yellow or purple and with purple corolla lobes. Involucre surrounded by some involucral leaves, linear, longer than the involucre and 1-2 rows of bracts, imbricate, linear, hairy, with laciniate apex. Achenes cylindrical, ± densely pubescent with hairs sometimes short and applied, and 10 longitudinal shallow ribs, with a double pappus formed by an inner row of scabrid setae and an outer row of much shorter setae than the inner ones.
Flowering:
March to July.
Fruiting:
April to August.
Habitat:
Rocky outcrops and scree in arid and desert areas.
Distribution:
Central-Atlantic Morocco, High Atlas, Anti-Atlas, Central and Western Sahara.
Observations:
There are 2 subspecies. Subsp. coronopifolia, with leaves usually pinnatisect and yellow flowers, is endemic to desert and arid areas of Algeria and Morocco. Subsp. purpurascens
(Batt.) Maire, with bipinnatisect leaves and purple flowers, is a taxon typical of western Sahara.
There are a further 2 North African species that belong to this genus: P. paui Font Quer [Fontqueria paui (Font Quer) Maire] is a subshrub with a woody base up to 40 cm in height, with only glandular hairs laxly arranged, and capitula usually with yellow ray florets (with 3 lobes) on the periphery and disc florets in the centre; it is endemic to Morocco. P. garamantum Asch. is a subshrub up to 80 cm in height, which, as P. coronopifolia, is ± densely pubescent-glandular but with flowers as in P. paui, with ray florets (with 3 lobes) on the periphery and disc florets in the centre; it is endemic to Libya (Tripolitania).
Conservation status:
P. coronopifolia can become locally common, but P. paui and P garamantum are rarer and with smaller distribution areas. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.