Moluccella laevis

Raab-Straube, Eckhard von & Raus, Thomas, 2025, Euro + Med-Checklist Notulae, 18, Willdenowia 55 (1), pp. 107-144 : 126

Moluccella laevis L. – Fig. 15.

N Ag: Algeria: Municipality of Skikda, village of Emdjez Edchich, 36°42'15"N, 06°48'20"E, 100 m, several hundreds of individuals as weeds among onion crops, 26 Jun 2024, Saci (photos [ Fig. 15], det. El Mokni). – Moluccella laevis is an annual plant native to SW Asia ( Anatolia to Afghanistan, Mill 1982; Rechinger 1982). The taxon was reported as naturalized in Spain ( Dana & al. 2015), Cyprus ( Hand 2019a), and the Americas ( POWO 2024q). In Africa, M. laevis was known only from Morocco, Kenya and more recently reported as naturalized in Tunisia ( El Mokni & Domina 2020; POWO 2024q). We here report its occurrence as a naturalized alien (sensu Pyšek & al. 2004) for the first time from Algeria, in this way closing the evidence gap between Morocco and Tunisia. In the cited locality, M. laevis has by now been continuously observed for almost four years, growing among onion crops in a large and dense population occupying c. 2 ha of vegetable fields. The plant is easily distinguished from M. spinosa L., the only other Euro-Mediterranean species in the genus, by the calyx limb, which is thin and membranous, pale green and not spiny (vs rigid, dark green and spiny in M. spinosa , see Mill 1982). R. El Mokni & A. Saci