Helichrysum glumaceum DC.
شجرة البابو، رعل
For people
- Eaten by people
- Unknown
- Toxic to people
- Unknown
For livestock
- Grazed by livestock
- Good fodder
- Toxic to livestock
- Unknown
Edibility and safety notes
No reliable information was found on whether people eat this plant or whether it is poisonous; do not eat it. The Omani field guide rates it as good grazing for livestock, but no second source confirming this or reporting any harm to animals was found.
This guide is a hobby project, not expert advice. Never eat a wild plant, or feed it to animals, on the strength of this page alone. Read the disclaimer
Description
A small greenish, woolly-haired subshrub 20-60 cm tall with erect, leafy stems. Leaves 3-6 x 0.2-0.4 cm, linear with inrolled margins and a pointed tip, white-felted beneath and almost hairless above. Flower heads 4-5 x 1.5-2 mm at flowering, narrowly cylindrical, each with 7-9 florets. Involucral bracts in 3-4 overlapping rows, white: the outer ones 0.5-0.75 x 0.5 mm, ovate and more or less pointed, the middle ones longer, the inner ones 2-3.5 mm, lanceolate and more or less pointed. Corolla yellow. Fruit an achene about 0.5 mm long, cylindrical, topped by a pappus about 2 mm long.
Habitat
Rocky ground; in the UAE and northern Oman mountains it grows in rocky wadis, gullies and on slopes, mostly at higher altitudes.
Distribution
Tropical Africa (from Senegal and Mauritania east to Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Kenya, south to Angola and Mozambique), Socotra, the Arabian Peninsula and southern Iran. In Oman it occurs in the south and in the northern mountains.
Pastoral value
Rated as good grazing for livestock by the Omani field guide; no independent source on its forage value was found.
Other uses
No significant traditional or economic uses documented.
Sources
- الدليل الحقلي المصور للنباتات البرية في سلطنة عُمان (BOOK.pdf p.41)
- Plants of the World Online — Helichrysum glumaceum DC. — powo.science.kew.org
- UAE National Red List of Vascular Plants — Helichrysum glumaceum — nationalredlist.org
- ColPlantA — Helichrysum Mill. (genus account) — colplanta.org
