Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels

Raab-Straube, Eckhard von & Raus, Thomas, 2024, Euro + Med-Checklist Notulae, 17, Willdenowia 54 (1), pp. 5-45 : 33-34

Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels

(≡ Sideroxylon spinosum L.)

– Fig. 17.

A Tn: Tunisia: Nabeul, Korbous, 36°50'04"N, 10°35'34"E, Quercus coccifera L. forest of Korbous (where the species was successfully introduced), 227– 230 m, 12 Apr 2019, El Mokni (herb. Univ. Monastir); ibid., 30 May 2022, El Mokni (herb. Univ. Monastir).

– Argania spinosa is a shrub or tree with a native range from S Morocco and W Algeria to N Western Sahara and N Mauritania. The plant was introduced to scattered areas around the world including the Canary Islands and, in Europe, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain (e.g. Rivera & Ruiz 1978; Martínez-Gómez & al. 2020; Labarca-Rojas & al. 2022; GBIF 2023), as well as to Mexico and Argentina in the W hemisphere ( Falasca & al. 2018). In Tunisia, introduction of the plant started in 1963, but no published report of its naturalization in the country is known by now ( Raab-Straube 2020 +; APD 2023; POWO 2023; GBIF 2023). During the monitoring of the floristic diversity of the Korbous forest, many juvenile individuals of A. spinosa were discovered resulting from seeds of the local mature planted trees. This is therefore the first record of A. spinosa as a possibly establishing xenophyte in Tunisia. It should be noted that, on recent molecular results, the genus Argania Roem. & Schult. is embedded in the genus Sideroxylon L. and should therefore better be sunk in the synonymy of the latter ( Stride & al. 2014).

R. El Mokni

Figures

Fig. 17. Argania spinosa – A: flowering branch; B: fruits. – Tunisia, Nabeul, Korbous, 30 May 2022, photographs by R. El Mokni.