Saccocalyx satureioides Coss. & Durieu
Fre.: Sariette indigène. Ara.: Zaater, zaatar armel. Tam.: Azir el ibel.
Shrub or subshrub, hermaphrodite, up to 1.2 m in height, aromatic, old branches usually decumbent and rooting, and young branchlets erect. Leaves in small fascicles at each node, sessile, 6-7 mm, linear-oblong, linear or spatulate, densely glandular, ciliate at the base. Inflorescence in spike of lax verticillasters, with 4-6 flowers in each verticillaster. Calyx c. 3 mm, campanulate, with tube with 15-20 veins and 5 short and straight teeth, accrescent to c. 8 mm and becoming globose during fruiting, completely enclosing the nutlets. Corolla white, pinkish or purple, with tube c. 3 mm, somewhat longer than the calyx and with 4 patent lobes, obtuse; the upper lobe emarginate. Androecium with 4 stamens, with ± the same length, slightly exserted. Style with 2 stigmatic subequal branches. Nutlets oblongish, smooth.
Flowering:
March to June.
Fruiting:
May to July.
Habitat:
Sand dunes and rocky subdesert terrain.
Distribution:
Its range is limited to the subdesert high plateaux of NE Morocco and NW Algeria, Saharan Atlas and to a lesser extent also in the northern Algerian Sahara.
Conservation status:
Rare species with a small distribution area. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Algeria it is included in its List of protected non cultivated flora (Executive Decree 12-03 on 4-Jan-2012).