Hermannia modesta
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record
Image 1
Reddish stems
22 Sep 2008
Image 2
Flower
13 Dec 2008
Image 3
Flowers and leaves
13 Dec 2008
Image 4
Fruit
21 Dec 2008
Image 5
Habit
05 Mar 2009
Image 6
Flowers
05 Mar 2009
| Family: | Sterculiaceae |
| Full name: | Hermannia modesta (Ehrenb.) Mast. |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Feëtjieliggie |
| English common name(s): | Common hermannia, Fairy lights |
| Synonym(s): | Hermannia arabica Hochst. & Steud. ex Fisch. Hermannia filipes Harv. Hermannia holubii Burtt Davy Hermannia kirkii Mast. Hermannia lugardii N.E.Br. Malva elata Pomel Trichanthera modesta Ehrenb. |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Red (to orange, pink, purple) flowers Slender, erect annual herb, up to 60 cm. Stems and branches with short glandular and longer simple hairs. Leaves linear, up to 4 cm long, thinly-stellate-hairy, sometimes also with glandular hairs; margins entire. Flowers drooping, small, solitary, axillary, pink, red or purple; peduncle up to 3.5 cm long, pubescent. Fruit oblong-ovoid, c. 8 x 6 mm, thinly stellate-pubescent, with small spreading apical horns, up to 1 mm long. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website) Slender or much-branched annual herb up to c. 60 cm tall; branches slender, pubescent with short glandular hairs and longer simple hairs. Leaf-lamina 1–4 x 0.1–0.25 cm, strictly linear, apex obtuse, margin entire, thinly appressed-stellate-pubescent on both surfaces and also with glandular hairs in some specimens; petiole c. 2 mm long, with glandular and simple hairs; stipules c. 2 mm long, subulate, pubescent. Flowers solitary in the upper axils on filamentous puberulous peduncles up to 3.5 cm long; pedicel up to 8 mm long, articulated by a slightly swollen joint to the peduncle, puberulous; bracts absent. Calyx campanulate, 3–5 x 3–6 mm, pubescent with simple and glandular hairs, lobed 2/3 of the way down; lobes from lanceolate to ovate-acuminate. Petals c. 6 x 2.5 mm, pink, red or purplish, narrowly obovate, margins scarcely inrolled in the lower half. Stamens with obovate filaments c. 2.5 mm long, without hairs on the shoulders; anthers c. 3 mm long, pubescent. Ovary oblong-ovoid, stipitate, glandular; styles c. 2 mm long, puberulous in the lower half. Capsule c. 8 x 6 mm, oblong-ovoid, thinly stellate-pubescent with some glands or glabrescent, with spreading horns at the apex c. 1 mm long. Seeds c. 1.5 x 0.75 mm, almost black, corniform (arcuate and thicker at one end than the other), wrinkled and minutely tuberculate. (from JSTOR website / Flora Zambesiaca) Erect, annual herb 4–15 cm tall, stem 0.5–1 mm diameter at base, usually unbranched; stems scattered with patent simple and glandular hairs, sometimes with a few stellate and long simple hairs. Leaf-blade linear-oblong, 1.6–3≈0.1–0.4(–0.6) cm, apex obtuse, margin entire, base acute, nerves inconspicuous, upper surface glabrous or with a few stellate or simple hairs, lower surface with scattered stellate hairs and sessile glandular hairs; petiole 1–2 mm long; stipules subpatent, subulate, 1.5–2.5 mm long. Inflorescence with flowers single in the upper axils; peduncle 12–30 mm long, ebracteate, subglabrous or with a few simple hairs; pedicel thicker than and conspicuously articulated with the peduncle, 2–3 mm long. Flowers pendulous, wine-red or red, ±5 mm wide. Calyx campanulate, 4 x 3–4 mm, lobed for 1/2, lobes narrowly triangular, 2–2.6 x 1–1.3 mm, glabrous apart from a few simple hairs on the lobe margins. Petals oblanceolate, 5–6 x 1.4–3 mm, margins not or only very slightly involute in lower half, glabrous; stamens with filaments oblanceolate, 2–2.5 x 0.7 mm, glabrous; anthers white, 2.5–3 x 0.3 mm. Ovary truncate-ovoid, 1.5 x 1.2 mm, awns inconspicuous, stipe 0.7 mm long; styles 1.5 mm long. Fruit capsule truncate-ovoid, ±5 x 4 mm, awns inconspicuous, 0.2–0.4 mm long, erect, sparsely and inconspicuously puberulous with simple and glandular hairs; seeds black, reniform, 1.3 x 0.7 x 0.6 mm, with approx. 8 transverse bands and scattered glossy black papillae. (from JSTOR website / Flora of Tropical East Africa) Annual herb up to 30 cm tall or more; stems pubescent with short glandular hairs and longer mostly simple hairs. Leaves with up to c. 3 mm long petiole; stipules up to 2 mm long, linear; blade linear, 10–40 x 1–3 mm, acute, with entire margin (rarely with a couple of teeth near apex). Flowers solitary in upper leaf-axils; peduncle 10–35 mm long; pedicel 3–8 mm long, without bracteoles. Calyx c. 4–5 mm long, pubescent. Petals c. 6 mm long, red to purplish. Stamens with filaments c. 2.5 mm long and anthers c. 3 mm long. Styles c. 2 mm long. Capsule 5–9 mm long, oblong-ovoid, sparsely pubescent and with spreading c. 1 mm long hairs at the apex. Seeds c. 1.5 mm long, transversely wrinkled and with scattered tubercles. (from JSTOR website / Flora Somalia) Hermannia modesta is in the form of slender herb up to 40 cm high, sometimes constituting a real bush. The leaves are elongated. The corolla can take on various colors: white, pink, red, purple. (from www.planetefleurs.fr, translated from French by Google Translate) Hermannia kirkii is in the form of herbaceous plant with many stems up to 60 cm high. The leaves are ovoid and the margin shows small teeth. The flower is solitary in the armpit of the leaves, provided with stipules, the stalk is 3-4 cm long and has an elbow slightly swollen near the calyx. The corolla is pink or red. This species shows similarities with H. modesta (see sheet) and some authors had made a subspecies. (from www.planetefleurs.fr, translated from French by Google Translate) |
| 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: | 22 Nov 2011 |
