Whilst birding the Asir mountains of the
Tanoumah area in southwest Saudi Arabia, I came across a plant I could not
identify. I was not able to identify the plant so asked Irene Linning who is a
plant expert and who previously lived in Saudi Arabia if she could identify it
for me. Irene said it was Commicarpus grandifloras that grows at high altitude
and to about 60 centimetres tall with flowers about 6 mm wide and sticky
leaves. They occur in Africa as well as Saudi Arabia (NW-Saudi Arabia: Hejaz,
SW-Saudi Arabia: Asir) the Sinai peninsula (Southern Sinai) and Yemen (N-Inner
Yemen, W-Yemen). Commicarpus are usually perennial herbs or subshrubs.
Stems slender, prostrate, scrambling or ascending, branching; often woody
toward the base; glabrous or pubescent. Sometimes large and small shrubs with
woody stems. Leaves opposite, petiolate, simple. Distinctive
glandular-pubescence and stickiness of C. grandiflorus separates it from
most other Commicarpus species.
