Tetraena unraveled. (A bit)
Key to Saudi Arabian Tetraena ( from the paper ; TAXONOMIC REVISION OF SAUDI ARABIAN TETRAENA MAXIM. AND ZYGOPHYLLUM L. (ZYGOPHYLLACEAE) WITH ONE NEW VARIETY AND FOUR NEW COMBINATIONS
DHAFER AHMED ALZAHRANI1 AND ENAS JAMEEL ALBOKHARI2)
- Fruit a loculicidal capsule; leaves 2-foliolate, flat, obovate-elliptic. Zygophyllum fabago
Fruit a schizocarp; leaves simple, 1- or 2-foliolate, mostly
cylindrical and fleshy, seldom flat. 2
- Staminal appendages bipartite; stems and leaves glabrous. 3
Staminal appendages undivided; stems and leaves mostly
pubescent. 4
Fruits obovoid, 5-lobed; flowers yellow; leaves simple, sessile,
cylindrical, fleshy. Tetraena simplex
Fruits obconical, 5-ridged; flowers white creamy; leaves 2-
foliolate, petiolate, obovate, flat. T. decumbens
Leaves 1-foliolate; fruits oblong-obovate, 5-angled at the upper
end to cylindrical. T. hamiensis
Leaves 2-foliolate; fruits oblong-ovate, obconial or cylindrical,
with or without ridges or lobes at the upper end. 5
Flowers arranged in clusters. Fruits obconical, 5-ridged at the
upper end. T. alba
- Flowers 1-3 at each node. 6
Fruits cylindrical, without lobes or angled at the upper end
(sausage shaped). T. coccinea
- Fruits ovate-oblong to obconical, 5-angled at the upper end. T. propinqua
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Ranges:
It seems T. Qatarensis and T. Mandavelli have been taxonomically reviewed into varieties of T. Hamiensis. T. Hamiensis Is distributed widely throughout the Arabian peninsula.
So is T. Simplex
T.alba grows along the Red Sea coast.
T. Coccinea ranges from north-west to south-west Saudi Arabia + Yemen
T. Decumbens : W / NW Saudi plus Oman and Yemen
T. Propinqua W / NW Saudi
