Thymelaea argentata (Lam.) Pau
Daphne argentata Lam., Th. nitida (Vahl) Endl.
Subshrub up to 50(70) cm in height; apparently not too branched, though with numerous brachyblasts; gynodioecious. Stems erect; older stems glabrescent, without leaves, greyish; young stems with a sericeous indumentum. Leaves imbricated, mainly concentrated in the brachyblasts, 3-10 × 1-2 mm, linear-lanceolate or narrowly spatulate, acute or subacute ± apiculate, flat, sessile, persistent, sericeous on both sides. Inflorescences in glomeruli, with 4-9 flowers, ebracteate, at the end of foliose brachyblasts. Flowers unisexual and hermaphrodite, female flowers 4-5 mm, hermaphrodite flowers 5-8 mm, both tubiform, greenish-yellow or yellow-reddish; hypanthium sericeous; sepals 1-2 mm, oblong-lanceolate, subacute. Anthers yellow. Style subapical. Fruit nuciform, included in the hypanthium, with membranous pericarp with an indumentum. Seeds 2.4-2.9 × 1.2-1.5 mm, ± pyriform, with a curved apex and a prominent chalaza, without an aril.
Flowering:
April to June.
Fruiting:
May to July.
Habitat:
Open forests (Quercus spp., Tetraclinis articulata, Pinus halepensis), thickets, in calcareous stony soils. From almost sea level to about 1,500 m.
Distribution:
Iberian-Maghrebi endemic. SE quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula and N of Morocco, of Algeria and of Tunisia.
Conservation status:
Rare species, non gregarious, and with small distribution area. Currently, it has 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 Vulnerable (VU).
