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. 2014 Jul 21;21(5):457–464. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2014.07.001

New generic and species records for the flora of Saudi Arabia

Jacob Thomas a,⁎, M Sivadasan a, AM Al-Ansari a, Ahmed Alfarhan a, Mohamed El-Sheikh a,c, Mohamed Basahi b, AA Alatar a
PMCID: PMC4191616  PMID: 25313281

Abstract

Recent field works in the central and southern regions of Saudi Arabia including agricultural centers have managed to collect four vascular plants new to terrestrial and wetland flora of the country. These new additions include one new genus Malvastrum A. Gray (M. coromandelianum) subsp. capitato-spicatum (O. Kuntze) S.R. Hill, Potamogeton perfoliatus L. (Potamogetonaceae), Euphorbia tirucalli L. (Euphorbiaceae) and Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L. (Aizoaceae). Detailed morphological description, distribution and habitat of each of these species are provided along with illustrations and photographs. The report of new additions to the flora of Saudi Arabia indicated that the country needs thorough botanical explorations.

Keywords: Arabian Peninsula, Flora, Saudi Arabia, Wetlands

1. Introduction

Despite arid and extra arid climate of Saudi Arabia, the flora is rich owing to the combination of East African, Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian species (White and Leonard, 1991; Alfarhan, 1999), and due to the unique geographical location of the country between Africa and south Asia, and a varied climate ranging from extra arid to arid to humid. A large number of publications have appeared which provide an accurate and up-to-date compendium of the angiosperms of Arabian Peninsula (Böer and Chaudhary, 1999; Miller and Cope, 1996; Wood, 1993, 1997; Kilian, 1999; Kilian et al., 2002) or of Saudi Arabia (Chaudhary, 1999, 2000a,b,c, 2001; Collenette, 1999; Mandaville, 1990). A total of 2284 species including naturalized and alien plants have been reported from various habitats of Saudi Arabia alone (Thomas, 2011). These records not only furnish an important baseline for the floristic elements but also give an authoritative knowledge about the distribution of these species. However, during the last few years, botanists and enthusiastic plant collectors have encountered several taxa new to the flora of Saudi Arabia, some of them turned out to be new species (Abedin, 1986; Al-Zahrani and El-Karemy, 2007; Fayed and Al-Zahrani, 2007) while others are reported as new records (Abedin et al., 1985; Alfarhan et al., 1997; Nader, 1982; Sokoloff, 2001; Masrahi et al., 2010, 2011). As some of the areas in Saudi Arabia are apparently under-collected, one can come across with many more unexpected species previously not recorded for the flora of Saudi Arabia. Detailed study of a few of the specimens collected during the recent field explorations turned out to be species hitherto unknown to Saudi Arabia. The present paper deals with updated nomenclature, detailed morphological description, phenology, habitat, and distribution of the species. The aim of this contribution is to provide supplementary data on the existing vascular plant records and to outline the taxonomic and phytogeographical background of these newly discovered species.

2. Material and methods

Field explorations were conducted during 2012 as part of plant collection for the King Saud University Herbarium (KSU) of the Department of Botany and Microbiology and for a research project on the impacts of invasive species in Saudi Arabia. All relevant field data including associated species have been recorded. The specimens which were not collected earlier were studied in detail and identified using relevant flora, revisions and monographs and were processed and deposited in the Herbarium.

3. Results

Malvastrum A. Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, Series 2, 4(1): 21. 1849, nom. cons.

Type: Malvastrum wrightii A. Gray [= M. aurantiacum (Scheele) Walpers].

Sidopsis Rydberg, Fl. Prairie Plains Centr. N. Amer. 541. 1932.

Plants suffrutescent or herbaceous perennials or annuals with one to several ascending or erect primary stems; vesture of vegetative parts with closely appressed or tufted, occasionally tuberculate or pustular-based, (2) 4–12-rayed stellate hairs, or less frequently, sub-lepidote or simple hairs; leaves petiolate; stipules appressed or reflexed, caducous or persistent, with 1–5 parallel veins; petioles as long as or subequal in length to blade; blades wide-ovate to lanceolate and occasionally obscurely 3-lobed, cordate truncate to wide-cuneate at base, acuminate to rounded at apex, sparsely to densely pubescent on both surfaces, margins crenate–dentate to dentate–serrate or denticulate, palmate veins 3–7; flowers axillary and solitary or in terminal racemes, congested terminal spikes, or in leafless glomerate axillary spicate racemes in the upper half of the plant, pedicellate to nearly sessile, pedicels subtended by leaves and/or stipules or a bifid bract derived from stipules; involucel or 3 bracteoles distinct, appressed, free or adnate basally to calyx, half as long as or subequal to calyx; calyx in bud often strongly 5-angled, somewhat accrescent in fruit, sepals united at base, erect, spreading, or incurved in fruit, with 3–5 subparallel veins/lobe; nectarines 5, indistinct; corolla campanulate, or rotate, petals 5 (rarely 6), and infrequently subequal to the calyx-lobes or exceeding them, distinct, yellow or yellow-orange to pale orange, asymmetrically obovate and usually emarginate or unequally cleft, imbricate in bud, confluent with staminal column at base; androecium with 16–50, monadelphous stamens, column shorter than petals, stamens with terminal dorsifixed extrorse anthers; gynoecium with a single glabrous style branching halfway from its base into 5–18 branches equal in number to carpels; stigma terminal, subglobose, hemispherical, or unexpanded; carpels in a single discoid whorl attached by their proximal margins to a central apically expanded columella subtended by a thin carpocrater; ovules one in each carpel; fruit an oblate or discoid schizocarp, exposed or enclosed by the calyx, shed from shrunken columella and calyx at maturity; mericarps 5–18, completely to partially dehiscent or indehiscent, free from one another, laterally compressed and wedge-shaped with a conspicuous proximal notch, lateral faces smooth to radially ribbed, apical–distal–basal surface with or without a raised medial line, unornamented or more frequently with one to three apical vertically cleft or entire mucros or cusps; seeds solitary in each mericarp, somewhat asymmetrically reniform or rarely narrowly elongated.

Distribution: Central United States south through Central America and the Caribbean to San Juan, Cordoba, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Widely introduced and naturalized in the Old World Tropics, especially common in India and Australia.

Malvastrum coromandelianum (L.) Garcke, Bonplandia 5: 295. 1857.

Malva coromandeliana: L., Sp. Pl. ed.1, 2: 687. 1753.

Type: Hortus Upsaliensis, Linnaeus (Lectotype: LINN 870.3).

Detailed examination of the recently collected specimens of Malvastrum resulted in their identity as Malvastrum coromandelianum subsp. capitato-spicatum (O. Kuntze) S.R. Hill. A key to the subspecies of Malvastrum coromandelianum is provided below to distinguish the taxon from the related subspecies and facilitate identification.

Key to the subspecies of Malvastrum coromandelianumis

  • 1.
    Bifid floral bracts often present. ……… subsp. fryxellii.
    • –
      Bifid floral bracts absent. ……… 2.
  • 2.
    Annual or perennial herb generally with several main stems; flowers solitary, axillary, somewhat apically congested; vesture of upper leaf surface usually of simple hairs, less frequently of stellate hairs. ……… subsp. coromandelianum.
    • –
      Mostly perennial herbs with single main stem; flowers in congested, glomerate terminal and axillary racemes; vesture of upper leaf surface of bilateral 4-rayed stellate hairs. ……… subsp. capitato-spicatum.

Malvastrum coromandelianum subsp. capitato-spicatum (O. Kuntze) S.R. Hill, Brittonia 32(4): 476. 1980. Malveopsis coromandeliana (L.) Morong var. capitato-spicatum O.Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 3(2): 21. 1898. Malvastrum coromandelianum (L.) Garcke var. congestum R.F. Fries, Ark. Bot. 6(2): 6. 1906. Malvastrum tricuspidatum (R. Brown in Aiton f.) A. Gray var. β capito-spicatum (O. Kuntze) Stuckert, Anales Soc. Ci. Argent. 114: 28. 1932. Malvastrum tricuspidatum (R. Brown in Aiton f.) A. Gray var. congestum (R.E. Fries) Stuckert, Anales Soc. Ci. Argent. 114: 28. 1932 (Figs. 1 and 2).

Figure 1.

Figure 1

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Malvastrum coromandelianum subsp. capitato-spicatum (O. Kuntze) S.R. Hill. (A) Habit – a portion of stem with axillary short-spicate racemes having flowers and fruits; (B) Simple and 4-rayed hairs; (C) Mericarp.

Figure 2.

Figure 2

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Malvastrum coromandelianum subsp. capitato-spicatum (O. Kuntze) S.R. Hill. (A) Habit; (B) Apical portion of stem with terminal and axillary short-spicate racemes having immature and mature fruits; (C) Adaxial portions of leaf-lamina showing hairs; (D) Fruits with mericarps.

Erect perennial or annual herb up to 1.5 m tall; stem vesture of longitudinally scattered narrowly bilateral closely appressed short-tuberculate 4-rayed stellate hairs rarely mixed with simple hairs; stipule 4–10 mm long, subfalcate, lanceolate, acuminate; petioles 3.0–4.0 cm long; blades 2.5–9.0 × 1.5–6.0 cm, wide-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, unlobed or not infrequently shallowly 3-lobed, apex acute to acuminate, margin dentate to nearly serrate, vesture of adaxial surface of bilateral 4-rayed appressed stellate hairs; flowers at first solitary in leaf axils but later produced in congested axillary and terminal few to many-flowered glomerate or short-spicate racemes throughout the upper half of the plant and branches with short internodes; bifid floral bracts lacking, flowers subtended by reduced leaves with stipules or by stipules alone; pedicels 2–3 mm long; involucel of 3 lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate slightly falcate acuminate bracteoles; calyx basally united, 5–8 mm long in fruit, broadly campanulate, lobes slightly spreading in flower and erect or incurved in fruit, deltate-cuspidate, abaxial surface moderately to sparsely pubescent with primarily 4-rayed stellate hairs on veins and a ciliate margin of simple hairs, adaxial surface puberulent with minute arachnoid simple or obscurely stellate hairs on the apical portion and marginally to the sinus; corolla yellow to pale golden-yellow, 1.5–1.7 cm in diam when spread, wide-campanulate or nearly rotate, the petals asymmetrically bilobed, 7–9 × 5–6 mm; androecium with 16–26 stamens, filaments c. 0.9 mm long; gynoecium with 11–13 carpels, style branched 2.0–2.5 mm above the columella, each stigma conspicuously expanded and hemispherical to subglobose and subequal to slightly recurved below the anther cluster; schizocarps 5.5–6.5 mm diam; mericarps 11–13, 3.0–4.5 mm high, 3.0–4.0 mm long, 1.3–1.5 mm wide, with a single median apical cusp of 1.0–2.0 mm long, and two distal cusps of 0.4–1.0 mm long conspicuously divergent from one another, lateral faces conspicuously ribbed especially on the margins, vesture of the apical surface and cusps of rigid simple hairs, lateral faces glabrous or a few minute hairs near apex, distal surface minutely pubescent with medial and marginal simple or stellate hairs, mericarp indehiscent, shed from the receptacle and calyx at maturity.

Distribution: Occurring in Argentina Bolivia, and the Galapagos Islands. Probably now in Old World Tropics naturalized in both East and Southeast Asia. In Saudi Arabia it was collected from the suburbs of Riyadh in Central Region where the taxon has become naturalized.

During the past visits in 2004 and 2005, specimens in vegetative phase have been noticed in the Al-Hair area and could not recognize their identity until plants in flowering and fruiting stages were collected in January, 2012 from an area dominated by Alhagi graecorum Boiss., Panicum coloratum L. and Cenchrus ciliaris L. The species is occurring in moist areas or as a weed in agricultural lands.

Flowering and fruiting period: December–August.

Specimen examined: Saudi Arabia: Central Region, Riyadh, Al-Hair, 12.1.2012, J. Thomas KSU-21636 (KSU).

Notes: Hill (1980) recognized three subspecies of M. coromandelianum. Malvastrum coromandelianum subsp. capitato-spicatum is distinguished from subsp. coromandelianum by its dense, glomerate axillary inflorescences, adaxial leaf vesture of 4-rayed hairs only, and very prominently cuspidate fruits. The taxon resembles M. coromandelianum subsp. fryxellii in its somewhat glomerate inflorescences, but differs in the predominance of simple hairs, presence of bifid floral bracts, and the small mericarps with reduced cusps in the latter.

Potamogeton perfoliatus L., Sp. Pl. 1: 126. 1753. (Potamogetonaceae) (Figs. 3 and 4).

Figure 3.

Figure 3

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Potamogeton perfoliatus L. (A) Habit – a portion of a plant; (B) A portion of the branch with inflorescence.

Figure 4.

Figure 4

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Potamogeton perfoliatus L. (A) Habit – a branch; (B) Inflorescence; (C) Single flower.

Potamogeton perfoliatus var. mandschuriensis A. Bennett.

Submerged aquatic, rhizomatous perennial plants. Leaves lax, spirally arranged, sessile, amplexicaul, broadly ovate to orbiculate (in our material), 2–3 cm long, 3–5-veined, apex obtuse or rounded, base cordate, margin entire. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, unbranched, spicate, cylindric, emersed. Flowers opposite in 4–6 whorls. Perianth 4, stamens 8, carpels 4. Fruits not seen.

Flowering and fruiting period: May to October.

Habitat: Submerged in calm and flowing fresh or brackish water. Found among a community dominated by Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud., Typha domingensis (Pers.) Poir. ex Steud. and Tamarix nilotica (Ehrenb.) Bge.

World Distribution: North and central Americas, Europe, Central Asia, Africa, Indian Subcontinent and Australasia.

Distribution in Saudi Arabia: Drainage and lagoons of Central region.

Specimen examined: Al-Hair, Riyadh, Central Region, 27.02.2012, M.H. Al-Ghamdi KSU-21648 (KSU).

Euphorbia tirucalli L., Sp. Pl. 1: 452. 1753. (Euphorbiaceae) (Figs. 5 and 6).

Figure 5.

Figure 5

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Euphorbia tirucalli L. (A) A branch; (B) A portion of a branch showing flower buds.

Figure 6.

Figure 6

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Euphorbia tirucalli L. (A) Habit; (B) A branch; (C) Flowering branch with male flowers; (D) Fruits.

Succulent and woody, monoecious, spineless tree, up to 10 m tall. Branches thick with milky latex, 1.0–1.5 cm diam., spreading, smooth, cylindrical, often seen in whorls. Leaves small, alternate, up to 20 × 3 (-4) mm, linear-lanceolate, acute, caducous, usually seen when young. Flowers sessile at forks or at the tip of branches. Cymes 2–5, aggregated at the tip of branches; bracts rounded, 2–13 mm long, keeled, glabrous. Cyathia subsessile with cup-shaped involucres; glands 5, peltate, subglobose or elliptic. Male involucres: bracteoles linear with plumose apices. Female involucres: perianth distinctly 3-lobed below the tomentose ovary; styles 2 mm long, jointed at base; stigma bifid with recurved apices. Fruit 8 × 8 mm, rounded to trilobate, glabrous or subglabrous, smooth.

Notes: There are lots of speculations about the medicinal uses mentioned in folklores owing to the dangers of using latex of this plant which is having vesicant and rubefacient effects. In East Africa, its latex is used against sexual impotence, warts, epilepsy, toothache, hemorrhoids, snake bites, extraction of ecto-parasites and cough among others (Schmelzer and Gurib-Fakim, 2008). In Peninsular Malaysia, a poultice of the roots or stems is applied to nose ulceration, hemorrhoids and swellings (Mwine and Damme, 2011).

Flowering and fruiting period: July to October.

Habitat: Impoverished rocky areas.

World Distribution: A native of East Africa; now in tropical Asia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Widely cultivated as a hedge plant (Aziz and Jafri, 1975). In Saudi Arabia, it is now seen invading the natural habitats of Asir Mountains.

Distribution in Saudi Arabia: Foot hills and valleys of Asir Mountains.

Specimen examined: Udoot Al-Amair, Asir Mountains, Southwestern region, 10.11.2012, Al-Juwaid KSU 21640 (KSU).

Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 2: 1058. 1759. (Aizoaceae) (Fig. 7).

Figure 7.

Figure 7

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Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L. (A) Habit; (B) Flower.

Portulaca portulacastrum L., Sp. Pl. 1: 446. 1753

Prostrate or ascending succulent perennial herbs, rooting at nodes. Leaves opposite, spathulate-oblong or oblanceolate, fleshy, base attenuate, apex obtuse; petiole 5–10 mm long, dilated at the base into a scarious semi-amplexicaul sheath. Flowers axillary, solitary, pedicellate; pedicel to ca. 5 mm long. Calyx tube ca. 2 mm, perigones (calyx lobes) 5, ovate with scarious margins, 7–9 mm long, pinkish inside. Stamens many, 15–30, basally connate at the throat of calyx tube. Carpels 3–5, style 3–5; ovary 5-lobed. Capsules ovoid, about 10 mm long, circumscissile. Seeds many, black, smooth.

Flowering and fruiting period: Almost throughout the year.

Habitat: It is now seen as an invading species along the coastal areas of Arabian Gulf, often competing with Ipomoea pes-caprae (L.) R. Br. (Convolvulaceae) and Malephora crocea (Jacq.) Schwant. (Aizoaceae), another two naturalized plants along the Arabian Gulf coast and central regions of Saudi Arabia. In the central region, it is seen as a ruderal plant near cultivated lands.

World Distribution: Almost Pantropical.

Distribution in Saudi Arabia: Coastal areas of Arabian Gulf.

Specimen examined: Tarut, Eastern Province, 13.03.2011, M. Basahy, KSU-21604 (KSU); Riyadh, Central Region, 04.04.2013, J. Thomas KSU-21663 (KSU).

4. Discussion

The report of new additions to the flora of Saudi Arabia indicated that the country needs thorough botanical explorations. However, in certain instances, species become locally extinct before they are discovered and documented as part of the flora of Saudi Arabia. The populations of species reported here are very rare and highly fragmented. There are several reasons for the species rareness and population fragmentations. Apart from anthropogenic activities and climatic change, invasion of alien species in species rich areas poses a great threat to the existence of local flora. During the past few decades the invasion of Prosopis juliflora, Nicotiana glauca, Argemone spp. and Opuntia spp. in the southwestern region are increasingly altering the natural flora of the region (Hall et al., 2008). In addition to these, there are several other alien, naturalized floral elements, previously entered through the agricultural centers of southwestern regions and Al-Ahsa oasis in the Eastern province, now showing their presence in the natural areas, replacing or threatening the existence of native floral elements. Such invasions of alien plants together with habitat loss have resulted in the disappearance of nearly 4 endemic and 18 non-endemic species from the flora area of Saudi Arabia (Collenette, 1999). Further documentation and research on the flora of Saudi Arabia is inevitable as a way to follow the impacts of introductions, or the discovery or loss of native species. Saudi Arabia possesses climatic peculiarities, which makes it different from other ‘desert countries’. These factors facilitate environmental dynamics that favor the structural complexity and the vegetation diversity of the country. With the new additions the number of species in the flora of Saudi Arabia has increased from 2284 species to 2287 species.

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by NSTIP strategic technologies programs, number (10-ENV1295-02) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The authors thankfully acknowledge Mr. M. Rafiqudeen for the illustrations.

Footnotes

Peer review under responsibility of King Saud University.

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