Portulaca kermesina
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record
Image 1
Leaves
03 Mar 2009
Image 2
Habit
03 Mar 2009
Image 3
Flower
03 Mar 2009
Image 4
Flower
03 Mar 2009
Image 5
Dead flower
04 Apr 2009
| Family: | Portulacaceae |
| Full name: | Portulaca kermesina N.E.Br. |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Vygiebossie, Haaskos |
| English common name(s): | - |
| Synonym(s): | Portulaca holosericea Peter Portulaca rubriflora Poelln. |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Erect to ascending, slender succulent annual or short-lived perennial, branching above the base; stems up to 15(-28) cm high, rather stiffly ascending. Leaves alternate, spaced, linear-terete, 9-25 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, sharply acute; axillary hairs in long shaggy tufts, sometimes indistinct, each axil also with 2 longer, brownish, hair-like scales with falcately-curving bases (these sometimes indistinct). Flowers in terminal clusters of 3-6 or more, encircled by approx. 8 involucral leaves enclosing dense woolly hairs, opening in the morning; involucral leaves longer than the cauline leaves, very variable in length, up to 30 mm long, slightly to much exceeding the flower cluster, spreading, finally slightly downturned. Sepals 3-4.5 mm long, rounded on the back, keeled towards the acute apex with a slight crest; petals 5, usually bright red, occasionally orange-red, rose-pink or rarely yellow, 2.5-8 mm long, obovate-oblong, obtuse to acute; stamens (5-)8-13(-19); stigma (3-)4-5-branched. Capsule 5 mm long, 2.5 mm in in diameter, dehiscing below the middle, lid a conical or rounded dome about as wide as high; seeds 0.5-0.75 mm long, metallic grey or occasionally silvery, the testa cells jigsaw-shaped to stellate, convex to conical. Erect or suberect, succulent annual or perennial, somewhat woody at the base. Leaves, 2-3 cm, subalternate, linear, subcylindric, subtended by whitish stipular hairs. Flowers terminal, solitary or in small heads, bright carmine. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
