Corbichonia decumbens
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record
Image 1
Flower
13 Dec 2008
Image 2
Habit
13 Dec 2008
Image 3
Fruit
21 Mar 2008
Image 4
Leaves (upper surface)
21 Mar 2008
Image 5
Leaves (lower surface)
21 Mar 2008
| Family: | Molluginaceae |
| Full name: | Corbichonia decumbens (Forssk.) Exell |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Sierkooltjie |
| English common name(s): | - |
| Synonym(s): | Axonotechium trianthemiodes (F.Heyne) Fenzl Glinus mucronatus (Klotzsch) Klotzsch Glinus trianthemoides F.Heyne Orygia decumbens Forssk. Orygia mucronata Klotzsch |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Petals pink to purple, anthers white. Procumbent or prostrate annual or short-lived perennial herb. Young plants often erect (image 2). Stems up to 50 cm, somewhat succulent. Leaves fleshy, alternate, obovate-spathulate or oblanceolate, glaucous; petiole winged. Flowers in terminal or pseudo-lateral inflorescences, pink, mauve or magenta. The staminodes are longer than the actual perianth, appearing as a large number of petals. Fruit shiny, yellow-green. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website) Erect or, more often, decumbent to prostrate herb to 45 cm high; roots and stem bases subwoody. Stems to 1 m long, internodes with ridges decurrent from leaf-bases. Petiole winged, up to 11 mm long; leaf-blade obovate, up to 65 x 33(–36) mm, base cuneate, tip apiculate, glaucous. Cymes lax, few- to many-flowered, somewhat raceme-like; bracts lanceolate, up to 3 mm long. Pedicels 2–3 mm long. Sepals c. 4 mm long in fruit, ovate with broad white margins. Staminodes pink, mauve or purple, eventually longer than sepals, conspicuous. Capsule subglobose, yellow-green, shiny. Seeds with concentric lines of tubercles. (from JSTOR website / Flora Somalia) An erect, decumbent or prostrate glabrous annual or short-lived perennial herb up to 45 cm high. Stems branched, wiry, often (like the rootstock) subwoody at the base, up to 100 cm long, the internodes with narrow ridges decurrent from the petiole-bases. Leaves petiolate; blade oblanceolate-obovate, obovate-spathulate, or obovate, 4.5–65 mm long, 2–33 mm broad, entire, subsucculent, glaucous, apex apiculate, base cuneate; the petiole winged, 1.5–11 mm long. Inflorescences terminal but overtopped and thus appearing lateral, leaf-opposed, few- to many-flowered, lax, racemiform, 1–17 cm long. Bracts lanceolate, membranous, up to 3 mm long. Pedicels 2–3 mm long. Flowers pink, mauve, magenta or red. Sepals herbaceous, green with white membranous margins, broadly ovate, about 4 mm long in fruit. Staminodes many, petaloid, delicately membranous, fugaceous, at first shorter, then longer than the sepals. Stamens many, in 2 rings. Fruit yellow-green, shining. (from JSTOR website / Flora of Tropical East Africa) Erect, procumbent, prostrate or prostrate-ascending annual or short-lived perennial succulent herb up to 50 cm high, sometimes with woody rootstock. Stems branched, often sub-woody at base, sometimes very long, the internodes with narrow ridges decurrent from the petiole bases. Leaves alternate, petiolate, fleshy; laminas 4–60 x 3–36 mm, oblanceolate-obovate, obovate-spathulate, obovate or orbicular, entire, apex apiculate, base cuneate, glaucous, sometimes turning purple; petiole 1–13 mm long, winged. Inflorescences at first terminal but then overtopped and appearing lateral, up to c. 20 cm long, few-many-flowered, loose, racemose, with lanceolate, membranous bracts up to 3 mm long. Flowers pink, mauve or magenta, shortly pedicellate. Perianth-segments C. 4 mm long in fruit, herbaceous, with white membranous margins, broadly ovate. Staminodes many, petaloid, membranous, fugacious, finally longer than perianth-segments. Stamens in 2 whorls. Fruit yellowish-green, shining, c. as long as perianth. Seeds purplish-black, concentrically ridged, with white aril. (from JSTOR website / Flora Zambesiaca) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie |
| Content last updated: | 24 Jan 2012 |
