''Halothamnus somalensis'' is a species of the plant genus ''

Halothamnus ''Halothamnus'' is a genus in the subfamily Salsoloideae of the family Amaranthaceae (s.l., now including Chenopodiaceae). The scientific name means saltbush, from the Greek ἅλς (''hals'') "salt" and θαμνος (''thamnos'') "bush". This r ...

'', that is now included into the family Amaranthaceae, (formerly Chenopodiaceae). It is endemic to the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

( Djibouti, Somalia, and Ethiopia) and is used for traditional medicine.

Description

''Halothamnus somalensis'' is a thorny

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

30–90 cm high, with olive-green branches, that partly turn black when drying. The semiterete, tiny leaves are appressed to the branches, and only 0,5–3 mm long. The flowers are 3,0-4,7 mm long. The winged fruit is 8-12,5 mm in diameter, their wings never turning black even on blackened plants. The bottom of the fruit tube has very small linear grooves located near the periphery, lacking any prominent radial veins. file:Halothamnus somalensis fruit 1.JPG, fruit (lateral view) file:Halothamnus somalensis fruit 2.JPG, fruit (bottom)

Anatomy

''Halothamnus somalensis'' has

epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rele ...

walls with an outer cutinized layer in addition to the

cuticle A cuticle (), or cuticula, is any of a variety of tough but flexible, non-mineral outer coverings of an organism, or parts of an organism, that provide protection. Various types of "cuticle" are non- homologous, differing in their origin, structu ...

itself. It is the only species of the genus that shows this anatomical feature.Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich: ''The genus ''Halothamnus'' (Chenopodiaceae) in Southwest Asia.'' - Flora et Vegetatio Mundi 9, 1991, p.43-52.

Taxonomy

The species has been first described in 1909 by

Nicholas Edward Brown Nicholas Edward Brown (11 July 1849 in Redhill, Surrey – 25 November 1934 in Kew Gardens, London) was an English plant taxonomist and authority on succulents. He was also an authority on several families of plants, including Asclepiadacea ...

as ''Salsola somalensis'' (In: Bull. Misc. Inform. 2, 1909, p. 50). In 1981,

Victor Petrovič Botschantzev Victor Petrovitch Botchantsev (russian: Виктор Петрович Бочанцев) (20 October 1910 - 30 August 1990) was a Russian botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of ...

included it into the genus ''Halothamnus''. The species has sometimes been misidentified as ''Halothamnus bottae'', occurring on the Arabian peninsula.

Distribution

''Halothamnus somalensis'' is endemic in Djibouti, Somalia and dry areas of Ethiopia. Similar plants from the

Arabian peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

belong to '' Halothamnus bottae'' ssp. ''niger''. It grows in open thorny savanna on sandy, clayey or rocky ground, from 0–1750 m above sea level.

Uses

The roots of ''Halothamnus somalensis'' are traditionally used as a medicine plant against parasitic worm diseases in animals or humans.

Vernacular names

In Somalia, the species is known as "gosomadowbeye" ("gowsa-madobeyi", "goso-mudo-weyi", "gusomadobeye", "gosama do beya") This name derives from the Somalian words ''goso'' (= molar teeth) and ''madow'' (= black), referring to the fact, that the teeth and lips are stained black when the plant is eaten. Other commons names are "afmadobeye", "dankup", "mirrow", "mimou", or "mirgi-edalis". In Djibouti, the species is called "Yagali".Herbarium specimens ''Chedeville 75'', ''Chedeville 216'' (Herbarium: FT), ''Denis 79'' (Herbarium: P)

References

* Gabriele Kothe-Heinrich: Revision der Gattung ''Halothamnus'' (Chenopodiaceae). Bibliotheca Botanica Bd. 143, Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 1993, , p. 49-5
Bibliotheca Botanica Bd. 143
Nicholas Edward Brown: ''Salsola somalensis'' N.E.Br. In: Bull. Misc. Inform. 2, 1909, p. 50 Victor Petrovič Botschantzev: Revisio generis Halothamnus Jaub. et Spach (Chenopodiaceae) (russ.). In: Bot. Mater. Gerb. Bot. Inst. Komarova Akad. Nauk SSSR = Novosti Sistematiki Vysshikh Rastenii. Moscow & Leningrad 18, 1981, p. 151 G. Cufodontis: ''Enumeratio plantarum Aethiopiae.'' - Bull. Jard. Bot. État 23 (3/4) Suppl., 1953 Entry and herbarium specimen of ''Halothamnus somalensis''
at JSTOR

External links

''Halothamnus somalensis''
with distribution map, at African Plant Database {{Taxonbar, from=Q290163 somalensis Taxa named by Victor Botchantsev Taxa named by N. E. Brown