Prosopis farcta (Banks & Sol.) J.F. Macbr.
Mimosa farcta Banks & Sol., M. stephaniana M.Bieb., Acacia stephaniana (M.Bieb.) Willd., P. stephaniana (M.Bieb.) Spreng.
Eng.: Syrian mesquite. Fre.: Prosopis de Stéphan. Ara.: Yenbutt, kharenba, agul, awsaj, (Egypt): sheshlaan.
Shrub up to 1 m in height, prickly, hermaphrodite, deciduous, very ramose from the base, with ascending branches. Stems and older branches with grey-whitish bark, little or not at all fissured, with numerous slightly elongated and transverse lenticels, and irregular longitudinal striations, which does not peel. Young branchlets greenish-grey, pubescent. Prickles conical, straight or slightly arcuate, very dilated and compressed at the base. Leaves 3-6 cm, alternate or subopposite, bipinnate, with ovate-lanceolate stipules, caducous, petiole 5-6 mm, eglandular, petiole and rachis hairy, the latter with 3-5(7) pairs of pinnae, each with 8-12 pairs of leaflets (3)4-6(7) × 1.5-2(2.5) mm, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or subacute, truncate at the base, subsessile, entire, glabrous on the upper side and pubescent on the underside and margins. Inflorescences spiciform, 3-8(9) cm long, cylindrical, axillary, shortly pedunculate —peduncle 5-25 mm—, yellowish or greenish-yellowish, solitary, with hairy rachis, and numerous minute flowers. Calyx 1-2.3 mm, domed, with 5 small triangular ciliate sepals. Corolla 3-5 mm, with 5 linear-lanceolate petals, yellow, pale yellow or cream, glabrous. Stamens 10, with a white or whitish-yellow filament, and anther crowned with a globular caducous gland. Pod 1.5-3(4.5) cm × 10-20(30) mm, reniform, ovoid, obovoid, subcylindrical or intestine-shaped, always swollen and ± circular in cross section, rounded at both ends or sometimes with an attenuate base, brown-black when ripe, indehiscent, glabrous, with 3-6 seeds separated by thick transverse septa. Seeds 6.3-8.5 × 4.5-6 mm, ovoid, highly compressed, reddish-brown, smooth, with a pleurogram in U.
Flowering:
May to July.
Fruiting:
Spring to summer.
Habitat:
Depressions, oases and sandy-loamy riverbeds in dry desert or predesert areas.
Distribution:
Widely distributed, from North Africa to India. It is found also in Cyprus and other areas of the eastern Mediterranean (Palestina, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria) and the Caucasus region (Georgia and Azerbaijan). In North Africa its western limit is in Algeria (Ayata, between Tuggurt and Chott el Felrhir); in Tunisia it is only known SW of Cape Bon (near Nabeul), and in Gabes (near Sidi Bulbaba); it is more widely distributed although always scarce in Egypt. In Libya, its presence is very likely.
Conservation status:
A very rare species and considered endangered in North Africa. In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it is listed as Least Concern (LC) at global level. In Tunisia it is included in its List of native species that are rare and threatened with extinction (Order of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, 19-July-2006). In the updated red list of Egypt (Shaltout & Bedair, 2023) it has been considered as Least Concern (LC).