Randonia africana Coss.
Fre.: Randonie africaine. Ara.: Bukhlal, bukhel, bau khelal, gueddam el rhazel, guedam el ghzèl, abu djebla, bu djubla, lakdam.
Subshrub, deciduous, erect, up to 1.20 m in height, highly ramose. Stems very upright, sometimes slightly spinescent, with yellowish-brown bark, fissured in the older lower parts. Branchlets subcylindrical, smooth, glaucescent. Leaves alternate, small (2-13 × 0.75-1.25 mm), obovate, linear-lanceolate or linear-spatulate, obtuse but mucronate, glabrous, sessile, promptly caducous. Inflorescence in long terminal racemes, spiciform (10-30 flowers). Flowers very small (3-5 mm in diameter) hermaphrodite, subsessile. Calyx wide, dome-shaped, with 8 green sepals, linear-oblong, acute. Corolla fused to the calyx, with 8 very small petals (3.5 mm long), suborbicular, yellowish-white, barely visible since they are only slightly longer than the calyx. Stamens numerous, usually 16, of the same length or slightly longer than the petals. Fruit a small subglobose capsule, with 4(6) sides and 2(3) triangular terminal teeth, densely papillose, papery. Seeds 2-6, very small (1.5-1.7 × 1.3-1.5 mm), reniform in aspect, yellowish at first and then brown, with tuberculate-rugose surface.
Flowering:
March to May or after rainfall.
Fruiting:
1-2 months later.
Habitat:
Silty-sandy depressions on desert terrains.
Distribution:
Endemic to North Africa, widely distributed in desert and semidesert areas. From SE of Morocco and Mauritania to Egypt and Sudan, reaching towards the S to Ethiopia. It is more common in the central-western sector of northern Sahara, from the SE of Morocco to the E of Libya.
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) it is listed as “Endangered”. In Algeria it is included in the List of protected non cultivated flora (Executive Decree 12-03 on 4-Jan-2012).