Family comprised of 178 genera and about 2,050 species of herbaceous and shrubby plants, rarely arborescent, distributed through tropical, subtropical and temperate regions of the planet. In North Africa it is well represented, with 24 genera with more or less woody species.In 4 of these genera there are only subshrubs, \u00b1 woody, at least at the base, usually less than 0.5 m in height, they are the following:<\/p>\n
Sevada<\/strong> Moq. Monotypic genus represented by S. schimperi <\/strong>Moq., a subshrub, glabrous or papery, up to 40 cm in height with small fleshy leaves (2-15 \u00d7 1-2 mm) with a tuft of hairs at the axils and hardened at the base, and small flowers with perianth 1 mm, arranged in axillary groups of 3-10 in a spike or panicle. It grows along dry riverbeds and areas of coastal sands in Egypt, Arabia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.<\/p>\n Camphorosma<\/strong> L. Genus with a single species in North Africa, C. monspeliaca <\/strong>L., with leaves alternate, linear, rigid, flowers with only 4 stamens and fruit perianth wingless. Very restricted in the region: Morocco [Boulmane (Middle Atlas)], Tunisia [Ghardimau (Medjerda Valley)] and NW far end of Libya (west of Tripoli). It has been cited in Algeria.<\/p>\n Bassia <\/strong>All. Genus represented in North Africa by 10 species, mostly annuals but with some subshrubs. B. prostrata<\/strong> (L.) Beck [Salsola prostrata<\/em> L., Kochia prostrata<\/em> (L.) Schrad.] with alternate leaves, not fleshy, linear, almost acicular and fruit perianth parts with such small wings that they do not touch each other; very rare plant in the region, only known in Morocco, south of Anoceur (Middle Atlas) and at its NE extreme, south of Sa\u00efdia, and in Algeria, in the steppes of the NW<\/span><\/span><\/span>. B. tomentosa<\/strong> (Lowe) Maire & Weiller [Suaeda tomentosa<\/em> Lowe, Chenolea tomentosa<\/em> (Lowe) Maire, Ch. canariensis<\/em> Moq., Ch. lanata<\/em> (Masson) Moq., Salsola lanata<\/em> Masson], with alternate leaves, villous, semicylindrical, linear-lanceolate and wingless fruit perianth; it grows in the Macaronesian Atlantic regions, from the western foothills of the High Atlas to the R\u00edo de Oro. B<\/strong>. arabica<\/strong> (Boiss.) Maire & Weiller [Chenolea arabica<\/em> Boiss., Chenoleoides arabica<\/em> (Boiss.) Botsch.]. With oblong-linear leaves, the upper ones oblong or oval, obtuse, often glabrescent, the lower ones downy; with a characteristic downy-woolly fruiting perianth. It lives in the semi-desert and desert areas of NE Libya, Egypt, the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula.<\/p>\n Agathophora<\/strong> (Fenzl) Bunge. Monotypic genus represented by A. alopecurioides<\/strong> (Delile) Fenzl ex Bunge [Salsola alopecurioides<\/em> Delile, Halogeton alopecurioides<\/em> (Delile) Moq., Agathophora algeriensis <\/em>Botsch.] (Ara<\/em>.: Hamad sha\u2019aran) a ramose subshrub, up to 50 cm in height, leaves alternate, cylindrical, obtuse, with a small rigid spine at the tip and winged fruit perianth; it is a uncommon plant, but can be found in almost all Saharan and pre-Saharan regions of North Africa, reaching almost to the Mediterranean in Saka (N of Guercif) along the Muluya depression in Morocco. In the eastern Moroccan steppes it can become abundant. Towards the E through Tunisia and Egypt (desert areas and the Sinai Peninsula) up to Pakistan.<\/p>\n These species are somewhat common, and in principle none are considered threatened. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species<\/em>. In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) C. monspeliaca<\/em> and B. prostrata<\/em> have been considered as Critically Endangered (CR), B. tomentosa<\/em> and A. alopecurioides<\/em> as Least Concern (LC).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-10791","family","type-family","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n