Pogonospermum patulum
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Image 1
Habit
27 Feb 2021
Image 2
Flower
27 Feb 2021
Image 3
Flower
27 Feb 2021
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Stems
27 Feb 2021
Image 5
Leaves
27 Feb 2021
| Family: | Acanthaceae |
| Full name: | Pogonospermum patulum (Licht.) I. Darbysh. & Kiel |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Besembos, Maklikbreekbos, Maklikbreekbossie, Sandsuikerbos |
| English common name(s): | - |
| Synonym(s): | Justicia patula Licht. (1817) =Justicia atherstonei T. Anderson (1864) =Monechma atherstonei (T. Anderson) C.B. Clarke =Monechma pseudopatulum C.B. Clarke =Monechma spartioides (T. Anderson) C.B. Clarke =Justicia spartioides T. Anderson =Monechma pseudopatulum var. latifolium C.B. Clarke |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Viscous-pubescent, branches 8 in. long, round, not striate; leaves up to 0.75 by 0.2 in., narrow, lanceolate-obovate, hardly acute, subsessile; flowers few, solitary, approximate in the upper axils; bracteoles 2, 0.2 in. long, linear-oblong; calyx 0.2 in. long, deeply 5-partite; lobes linear, hardly acute; corolla nearly 0.75 in. long; one anther-cell below the other, with a very long tail; pollen ellipsoid with 2 stopples, banded, and with 1 row of tubercles beside each stopple; capsule 0.333 in. long, stalked, 2-seeded, glabrate; seeds brown, smooth. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) Nearly glabrous, branches 1 ft. long (or more), terete, not striated, smooth, the internodes up to 1.5–2 in. long; leaves up to 1.5 by 0.167 in., linear-oblong (no elliptic or subovate leaves except in the variety, latifolia); petioles 0– 0.167 in. long; flowers few, scattered; pedicels 0.125– 0.167 in. long; bracteoles 2, 0.125 in. long, oblong, obtuse: calyx hardly 0.167 in. long, deeply 5-lobed; lobes linear, subacute, puberulous or glabrate; corolla 0.333– 0.5 in. long; capsule 0.5 in. long, stalked, narrowly ellipsoid, subquadrangular, compressed, 2-seeded; seeds discoid, smooth, hard, blotched. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) Shrub, shrublet or suffrutex, up to 2 x 2 m. Branches straight or geniculate, glabrous or variously hairy, internodes up to 70 mm long, smooth or finely wrinkled, terete; main stems often with several years' growth of lateral branches clustered in a single axil; young stems with lateral branches developing singly and regularly to produce characteristic rafter-branching, often yellow-green. Leaves subsessile or petiolate, remote, glabrous or hairy, flat or rarely terete, linear to rounded, up to 45 x 14 mm, usually yellow-green; petiole up to 10 mm long but usually shorter. Flowers scattered, solitary, sessile or on pedicels up to 7 mm long. Bracteoles borne near apex of pedicel, sheathing bud or much shorter and often caducous, leaving cup-like rims. Calyx variously hairy with short or long hairs and/or glands, small, tube 1 mm long, lobes triangular, oblong or more or less lanceolate, 2-7 mm long, green or yellow-green, or calyx glabrous, large, tube 2 mm long, lobes ovate with long apices up to 10 mm long, one or two lobes sometimes larger than others, often conspicuously nerved with nerves contrasting in colour to lobes, e.g. blue/cream, brown/white, green/yellow or else nerves transparent and lobes green, yellow, white or cream. Corolla 15-19 mm long, hairy on outside, cream, greenish white, pale mauve, blue or bicoloured. Capsule 10-14 mm long (including stipe of up to 6 mm), 2-or 1-seeded, glabrous. Seeds plump and more or less spherical when only one develops, 3.5 x 3 mm, yellow or beige with dark blotches. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Southern Africa) A straggling nearly glabrous and leafless shrub; branches up to 2 ft. long, round, with many internodes 2 in. long; leaves very few, 0.75 by 0.0625 in., subulate; flowers solitary, few, approximated in the upper axils; bracteoles 0.125 in. long, linear; calyx 0.167 in. long, minutely pubescent and with gland-headed hairs, deeply 5-partite; lobes linear; corolla 0.5– 0.667 in. long, white with violet tips (Schinz); one anther-cell much below the other, tailed; pollen ellipsoid with 2 stopples, slightly banded, scarcely tubercled; pistil glabrous; capsule 1/3 in. long, 2-seeded. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) |
| 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 |
