Leptadenia pyrotechnica (Forsk.) Decne.

This species is medicinally important and is also used for its fibres.

Erect, much branched generally leafless shrub, generally 0.6-2.5 m tall. Branches erect, slender, green, spinescent. Leaves (when present), 2.5-6 x 2.5-3 mm, linear to linear-lanceolate, subsessile, glabrous, acute. Flowers in small umbellate cymes. Peduncle 2.5-8 mm long, pedicel c. 2.5 mm long, pubescent. Calyx c. 1.5 mm long, lobes as long as the tube, pubescent. Corolla 3-3.5 mm long, deeply divided, funnel-shaped, glabrous below, lobes pubescent within and without. Follicles 7.5-11.5 cm x 6-7 mm, lanceolate, terete, and glabrous. Seeds c. 8 mm long, coma 2.5-3.8 cm long.

Distribution: Pakistan, India, Iran, Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Chad, Libya and Algeria.

Fl.Per.: December-January.