Check List 19(5): 661-668, doi: 10.15560/19.5.661

Cotula australis Hook.f. (Asteraceae), a species newly introduced in Morocco

Abdelilah Jbilou^‡, Ouafae Benkhnigue^§, Hind Elaidi^‡, Lahcen Zidane^‡, Jamila Dahmani^‡, Nadia Belahbib^‡

‡ Ibn Tofail University, Kénitra, Morocco§ Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco

Corresponding author: Abdelilah Jbilou ( jbilou.abdelilah@uit.ac.ma )

Academic editor: Robert Philipp Wagensommer

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Jbilou A, Benkhnigue O, Elaidi H, Zidane L, Dahmani J, Belahbib N (2023) Cotula australis Hook.f. (Asteraceae), a species newly introduced in Morocco. Check List 19(5): 661-668. https://doi.org/10.15560/19.5.661

Abstract

We report the discovery of Cotula australis Hook.f. for the first time in Morocco and North Africa. We found it living in the cork-oak forest of Maamora (Northwest). This species, a member of the family Asteraceae, is introduced to Morocco and has potential to be highly invasive and destructive to the native environment. We describe the distinctive taxonomic and morphological characters of this species and provide notes on its distribution, ecology, and habitat.

Keywords

Cork-oak forest, exotic flora, invasive, Maamora, morphology, North Africa, taxonomy