Polygalaceae
Polygala

Polygala effusa Paiva & Thulin

First published in Nordic J. Bot. 10: 471 (1990)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is E. Ethiopia to Central Somalia. It is a subshrub or shrub and grows primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome.

Descriptions

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit
Shrub or shrublet to 1.2 m, often with spine-tipped branches, vegetative parts puberulous with appressed hairs
Morphology Leaves
Leaves sometimes clustered on short-shoots, obovate, up to 10 x 5 mm, mostly less, cuneate at the base, rounded to emarginate at the apex
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Racemes lateral, dense, up to 1 cm long; bracts c. 1 mm long, somewhat persistent; pedicel 2.5–3 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Outer sepals 2.5–3.2 mm long; wings elliptic, 5.5–6.5 x 2.8–3.4 mm, rounded, medially green, subglabrous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Petals pink, the upper curved-spatulate, two thirds as long as wings; keel c. 5 mm long, nearly as long as wings, strongly curved
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Capsule broadly elliptic, up to 7 x 6.5 mm, emarginate, narrowly winged, larger than wings, glabrous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds c. 5 x 2.5 mm, caruncle with 3 appendages almost as long as the seed.
Distribution
C1; E Ethiopia
Ecology
Altitude c. 300 m.
Vernacular
Firin (Somali).
[FSOM]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0