Forsskaolea eenii Rendle, J. Bot.

Forsskaolea eenii Rendle, J. Bot. View in CoL , 4: 203. 1917. Fig. 1 View Fig

Annual herbs, 20–45 cm tall, subulate, hooked hairy all over. Stems herbaceous, 5-angled in crosssection, with distinct ridges; branches ascending, hispid, translucent green, slightly reddish at the base at maturity. Stipules 2, ovate, c. 1 × 1 mm, acuminate. Leaves simple, alternate; petioles 1–3 cm long, involute, hairy; lamina ovate to lanceolate, 3–5 × 1.5–2.5 cm, base cuneate, margins serrate, ciliate, apex obtuse, upper surface puberulous, lower surface slightly whitish, woolly, with three prominent veins. Inflorescences bisexual, both male and female flowers aggregated within same involucre of 3–6 bracts; involucres cup shaped, 0.4– 0.6 cm, sessile; male flowers in outer whorl and female flowers in the centre of involucre. Bracts obovate, 2.5–4 × 1–2 mm, acuminate at apex, parallel veined, having soft tufts of white hairs on the margins at the base, hispid. Male flowers 5–12, irregular, 1.5–2 × 0.5 mm, sessile, inserted in white woolly indumentum. Sepals united, 3-lobed, larger lobe covers inflexed stamen, green, hairy. Stamen single; filament 2.5–3.5 mm long, longer than sepal; anther dorsifixed, dithecous, inflexed, reflexed at the time of dehiscence, whitish green. Female flowers 1–3, inserted in white woolly hairs; calyx and corolla absent. Gynoecium prolate, pistil single, 2–2.5 mm, straight, sessile; ovary unilocular, placentation basal, ovule single, erect; style filiform; stigma fimbriate. Achenes 2–2.5 mm long, blackish brown.

Flowering & fruiting: Flowering and fruiting from July to September.

Habitat: Grows in soil between eroded black rocks called deccan trap basalt along with Commelina benghalensis L. ( Commelinaceae ), Cardiospermum halicacabum L. ( Sapindaceae ), Cayratia trifolia (L.) Domin ( Vitaceae ) and Commiphora wightii (Arn.) Bhandari ( Burseraceae ) at an altitude range from 198 to 352 m. The substrate is predominantly soil and to a lesser extent gravel. The soil type is shallow silty loam. It appears that F. viridis has site, habitat and substrate preference as most of the individuals were collected from hills dominated by basalts.

Distribution: Forsskaolea viridis is distributed in Angola, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Yemen ( Friis & Wilmot-Dear, 1988) and now in India.

Specimens examined: INDIA, Gujarat, Kachchh district, Dhinodhar hills, N 23 ̊ 27' 15.17'', E 69° 20' 36.31'', 352 m, 27.08.2020, Khyati Thacker, Ritesh Pokar & Kazbanu Sumra KRK4012, KRK4013, KRK4014 ( BARO) .