Forsskaolea is a small genus of perennial herbs in the nettle family (Urticaceae), placed in the order Rosales. The genus comprises seven accepted species distinguished from their stinging relatives by non-stinging hairs and characteristic dot-like mineral concretions on their green surfaces.
Leaves are alternate, three-ribbed, scalloped, and edged with toothlike projections. The inflorescences are flat-topped clusters arising from the base of the stem, with budding flowers enclosed in bell-shaped, densely hairy rings of three to six bracts. Flowers are minute and unisexual: each female flower is surrounded by a ring of male flowers. Male flowers have a three- to five-lobed calyx; females lack a calyx entirely. Each male flower bears a solitary stamen; ovaries are upright and woolly with no style. The fruit is an achene, oval to elliptical in shape, flattened, densely hairy, and enveloped in woolly bracts.
The genus is distributed across the southern Palearctic, from the Canary Islands and southeastern Spain eastward through North Africa and the Middle East to Pakistan and western India. Notable species include Forsskaolea tenacissima, Forsskaolea angustifolia, and Forsskaolea procridifolia. The genus was named in honor of the Swedish botanist Peter Forsskål.
Etymology
The genus name Forsskaolea commemorates Peter Forsskål (1732–1763), a Swedish botanist and student of Carl Linnaeus who collected extensively in the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt before his early death.
Distribution
Forsskaolea occurs across the southern Palearctic, from the Canary Islands and southeastern Spain eastward through North Africa and the Middle East to Pakistan and western India.
