''Maytenus dhofarensis'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Celastraceae The Celastraceae (staff-vine or bittersweet) are a family of 97 genera and 1,350 species of herbs, vines, shrubs and small trees, belonging to the order Celastrales. The great majority of the genera are tropical, with only ''Celastrus'' (the staf ...

and is found in

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

and

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

. It is an intricately branched spiny shrub or small tree with its leaves arranged alternately or clustered on short shoots. The flowers have white or cream petals and the fruit are purple or red. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Description

''Maytenus dhofarensis'' is a spiny shrub or small tree often forming more or less impenetrable thickets and growing throughout the escarpment woodlands and extending into the drier summit plateaux areas. ''Maytenus dhofarensis'' may be mistaken for '' M. senegalensis'' and the two species are not differentiated in local expertise.

Taxonomy and naming

''Maytenus dhofarensis'' was first formally described in 1985 by

Sebsebe Demissew Sebsebe Demissew (born June 14, 1953) is a Professor of Systematics, Plant Systematics and Biodiversity at Addis Ababa University and Executive Director of the Gullele Botanic Garden in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Education Demissew was educated at A ...

and the description was published in ''Symbolae Botanicae Upsalienses''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''dhofarensis'') refers to

Dhofar The Dhofar Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ظُفَار, Muḥāfaẓat Ẓufār) is the largest of the 11 Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Gov ...

where this species is found.

Distribution and habitat

This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Dhofar in Oman. These shrubs grow widely throughout Dhofar in drier areas as well as in monsoon areas.

Uses and cultivation

Cut branches were traditionally popular as building material for pens and enclosures, for perimeter fences around the settlement compounds, for building partitions or to make a dense barrier across a cave mouth, or the 'door' due to the vicious thorns that were considered to cause more pain and difficulty of extraction. ''Maytenus dhofarensis'' provides adequate firewood, however unpleasant thorns make it difficult to handle. If well known hardwood trees were absent, the wood of a well developed maytenus specimen would be used to make such vital weapons as a double-ended throwing stick and a knobbed club. Camels browse on the foliage but cattle are unenthusiastic. Goats eat the leaves and especially the flowers of ''M. dhofarensis'', however the fruit is poisonous and can cause the goat to fall ill with shivering attacks and develop a raised temperature.

Wider uses

Many species of ''Maytenus'' are important in traditional medicine, and another species in the Celastraceae, ''

Catha edulis Khat or qat ( ''ch’at''; Oromo: ''Jimaa'', so, qaad, khaad, khat or chat, ar, القات ''al-qāt'') is a flowering plant native to eastern and southern Africa. Khat contains the alkaloid cathinone, a stimulant, which is said to cause e ...

'', grown in the mountains of south-west Arabia and Ethiopia is the sources of Qat. In

, the leaves of ''Maytenus'' species are used to make a tisane which is drunk to relieve pains in the stomach; the roots of ''

Maytenus senegalensis ''Maytenus'' ''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is a genus of flowering plants in the family Celastraceae. Members of the genus are distributed throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Micronesia and Australasia, the Indi ...

'' are chipped into shavings and added to beer to be drunk as an aphrodisiac in parts of Africa. Researchers have also been able to isolate the active compound maytanisne from '' M. buchanii'', which is on trial as a possible

chemotherapeutic Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

drug against cancer.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6798024 dhofarensis Flora of Oman Flora of Yemen Near threatened flora of Asia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN