Rhanterium adpressum Coss. & Durieu
Fre.: Rhanterium. Ara.: Arfadja, arfeq.
Subshrub, hemispherical, deciduous, up to 1 m in height and 1.5 m in diameter, highly branched, dense. Stems and branches erect, divaricate, tomentose-whitish, with short and applied indumentum. Leaves 0.5-1 × 0.1-0.4 cm, alternate, very laxly arranged, entire or dentate, from subglabrous to tomentose, green, contrasting with the white colour of the stems and branches; lower leaves oblong-lanceolate; upper leaves linear-lanceolate. Capitula solitary, terminal, persistent, with involucre 7-15 mm in diameter, subglobose, with several rows of lanceolate bracts, acute, imbricate, applied, and receptacle flat, alveolate, with interfloral scales on the periphery. Flowers yellow; outer flowers in ray florets (with 3 lobes) and female; the rest in disc florets and hermaphrodite. Fruit a cylindrical achene, with 4-5 longitudinal ribs; outer and middle achenes without pappus and surrounded by the receptacle scales; central achenes with pappus formed by 3-6 setae with feathery apex.
Flowering:
April to June.
Fruiting:
June to August.
Habitat:
Plains and depressions in the terrain that are clayey, sandy and stony, in desert and subdesert environments.
Distribution:
Endemic to Morocco and Algeria. Western Saharan Atlas, northern and western Sahara.
Observations:
Another species also endemic to North Africa is Rh. suaveolens Desf. (incl. Rh. intermedium Pomel) (Ara.: Tittri), a similar subshrub but with smaller capitula (involucre 3-6 mm in diameter) and caducous, and involucral bracts from patent to strongly recurved. Less common than R. adpressum, it is found in the northern Sahara, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species. Currently, they have 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).
