A genus with about 2055 species distributed throughout the tropical, subtropical and temperate zones, mainly in America and Africa. In North Africa, the genus is represented by 85 species, of which a dozen can be considered purely shrubby, 5 are cactiform and the rest suffruticose (with more or less lignified stems, at least at the base) or herbaceous.<\/p>\n
Among the species that are not very woody but with erect stems that almost reach 1 m in height (or even exceed it), 6 of them can be highlighted. The most robust are E. paniculata<\/strong> Desf. and E. clementei <\/strong>Boiss. Both with erect stems, little ramified, up to 1(1.5) m tall and verrucose cocci. Among them they differ because the first has 2-4 pleocasial rays and the second has 5-7 rays. Widely distributed by the Mediterranean parts of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Other non-woody species of good size, with upright stems that almost reach 1 m in height (or even exceed it) are E. characias<\/strong> L. in the Mediterranean parts of Morocco and Libya, and others restricted to specific habitats, from the sand dunes and coastal rocky areas (E. paralias<\/strong> L.), the high mountains (E. nicaeensis<\/strong> All.) and in the sand dunes of the Sahara (E. guyoniana<\/strong> Boiss. & Reut).<\/p>\n Regarding the conservation status, the 6 aforementioned species have a wide distribution, and are not considered threatened. In the IUCN Red List of Species, E. paniculata<\/em> it has been assessed as Least Concern (LC) globally (de B\u00e9lair, 2010), while the other 5 are currently not evaluated. In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) E. paniculata<\/em>, E. clementei<\/em> and E. guyoniana<\/em> have been considered in the Data Deficient (DD) categorie, E. characias<\/em> and E. nicaeensis<\/em> as Least Concern (LC) and E. paralias<\/em> as Near Threatened (NT).<\/p>\n According to Bened\u00ed et al. <\/em>(1997) in<\/em> Flora Iberica<\/em>, VIII: 210-285, the primary inflorescence cannot be considered an umbel (as it was traditionally described) because it is not a simple racemose inflorescence but a “pleiochasium” with different levels of complexity of cymose structures.<\/p>\n Regarding the structures that serve as mechanical defense, whose precise characterization is very important in cactiform species, the rule of using the term “spines” has been followed to refer to firm, slender and pointed structures, which represent leaves or modified stipules. Sometimes they can merge to give a single structure from paired modifications, such would be the case of a pair of stipules that generate a solitary spine. On the other hand, the term “prickles” is used to refer to pointed structures resulting from growth of the epidermis or the bark.<\/p>\n