Zygophyllaceae
Balanites

Balanites glabra Mildbr. & Schltr.

First published in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 51: 163 (1913)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is NW. Somalia to N. Tanzania. It is a shrub or tree and grows primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome.

Descriptions

Balanitaceae, Martin J.S. Sands. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2003

Morphology General Habit
Very spiny evergreen shrub or small tree up to 9 m high, rarely taller, ± erect, sometimes drooping, rarely ‘creeping’ (Napier 2354) or subscandent; bark grey or grey-green, rough, corky, corrugated and fissured; branches smooth, yellowish green to dark green; branchlets and immature spines green, at first adpressed-puberulous, glabrescent, the second-year stems very sparsely hairy, sometimes glaucous.
Morphology General Spines
Spines borne at right-angles to the parent stem 5–20(–30) mm above the axil, 3–13 cm long, 2–3.5 mm diameter, sometimes bearing branch-spines, very stout, terete, yellowish-green, the spine-tip often orange-brown; spinules absent.
Morphology Leaves Scale leaves
Scale-leaves 2 mm long, 1 mm wide, triangular, acute, scarious, sometimes persistent.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves infrequent, subsessile or with a petiole up to 1–2.5 mm long; stipules 1 mm long, very early caducous; leaflets elliptic, obovate or obovate-spathulate, sessile, 2.2–6.2 cm long, 1.2–3.8 cm wide, apex rounded, obtuse or acute, sometimes minutely apiculate, base cuneate, thinly coriaceous, glabrous above, often very sparsely adpressed puberulous below; foliole 1–2 mm long, linear, rarely foliar and to 1.7 cm long, 0.4 cm wide.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence generally on the spines, but sometimes on the parent axis, fasciculate; pedicels 3.5–10 mm long, densely white-tomentellous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers 4 (rarely 5)-merous, arising from a small swollen tomentellous cushion, sometimes scented; sepals ovate, 4.5–5 mm long, 2–2.5 mm wide, acute, caducous, shortly puberulous outside; petals yellowish green, cream or white, rarely orange, narrowly obovate-oblong, 6–7 mm long, 2–2.5 mm wide, acute, gradually narrowing to the base, glabrous within; stamens 8; anthers 2 mm long, 1 mm wide; ovary 1 mm high, densely silky hairy initially in bud, usually very early-glabrescent; style 1–1.5 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit not markedly elongating in early development, at first ellipsoidal and pointed at both ends, eventually ovoid, ripening yellow to orange or pale red, to 3.5 cm long, to 2 cm diameter, smooth; seed in a hard endocarp enclosed in a thin outer layer.
Habitat
Deciduous bushland, scattered tree grassland, wooded grassland, thicket; 800–1700 m
Distribution
K3 K4 K6 T1 T2 T3
[FTEA]

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: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/145397928/154214033

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

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

Morphology General Habit
Shrub or tree up to 9 m high, spiny
Morphology Stem
Young stems and spines green, appressed puberulous, glabrescent
Morphology General Spines
Spines arising 0.5–1.5 cm above the leaf axil, (3–)4.5–10(–13) cm long, sometimes widened dorsiventrally at the base
Morphology Leaves
Scale-leaves frequent, usually falling quickly, up to 2 mm long Foliage leaves usually few, subsessile or with petiole up to 3 mm long; leaflets sessile, elliptic, obovate or obovate-spathulate, 2.2–6.2 x 1.2–3.8 cm, thinly leathery, cuneate at the base, rounded to acute at the apex, glabrous above, often sparsely appressed puberulous below
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Flowers 4-, rarely 5-merous, in clusters usually on the spines but sometimes on the parent axis; pedicels 3.5–10 mm long, tomentellous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Sepals 4.5–5 mm long, silky-hairy
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Petals narrowly obovate-oblong, yellowish-green to white, 6–7 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Stamens 8(–10)
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
Ovary glabrous; style c. 1.5 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit not markedly elongating in early development, first ellipsoidal, pointed at both ends, then ovoid, ripening yellow, orange or pale red, 2.4–3.6 x 1.5–2 cm.
Distribution
N1; Ethiopia, Kenya, N Tanzania
Ecology
Altitude range 1020–1370 m.
Vernacular
Kidi, kulan (Somali).
Note
Subsp. pedicellaris, with larger, less hairy leaflets and longer pedicels, occurs through most of eastern Africa from N Uganda in the north to Swaziland and Natal in the south.
[FSOM]

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

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. 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 2024. 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

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images