Plants photographed elsewhere in Namibia (not on Kyffhäuser)
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Trichodesma africanum (L.) Lehm.


Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record    (Click here to see images of this plant from Kyffhäuser)

Trichodesma africanum

Image 1
Stalk, leaves and flowers
30 Apr 2011

Trichodesma africanum

Image 2
Flower
30 Apr 2011

Trichodesma africanum

Image 3
Flower and buds
30 Jun 2019

Trichodesma africanum

Image 4
Flower and buds
30 Jun 2019



Family: Boraginaceae
Full name: Trichodesma africanum (L.) Lehm.
ID status: Fairly certain
Afrikaans common name(s): -
English common name(s): African barbbell
Synonym(s): Trichodesma africanum (L.) R.Br. (?)
Borago africana L. (1753)
Boraginella africana (L.) Kuntze (1891)
Borraginoides africana (L.) Hiern (1896)
Trichodesma africanum (L.) R.Br. subsp. africanum
Borraginoides aculeata Moench (1794)
Trichodesma africanum subsp. gracile (Batt. & Trab.) Le Houér.
Trichodesma gracile Batt. & Trab. (1912)
Trichodesma fruticosa Maire (1949)
Trichodesma giganteum Quézel (1957)
Friedrichsthalia schimperi Bunge (1843)
Trichodesma africanum var. abyssinicum Brand (1921)
Trichodesma africanum var. heterotrichum Bornm. & Kneuck. (1916)
Trichodesma africanum var. homotrichum Bornm. & Kneuck. (1916)
Trichodesma africanum var. subcalcaratum Maire (1949)
Borago tristis G.Forst. (1789)
Status: Native
Description: Erect branched annual 2-3 ft. high, harshly scabrid, with flowers 0.5 in. long white, the throat yellow and with brown spots. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of West Tropical Africa)

An annual. Stems erect, branched, up to 3 ft. high, furnished with scattered rigid white bulbous-based hairs. Leaves opposite or alternate, ovate or ovate-oblong, acute, up to 5 by 2.5 in., with scattered white bulbous-based hairs on both surfaces, the uppermost sessile, the rest petioled. Panicle many-flowered, terminal; pedicels up to 6 lin. long, covered (like the outside of the calyx) with stiff white hairs 1 lin. long. Calyx-lobes lanceolate, 3–4 lin. long at flowering time. Corolla scarcely exserted from the calyx, blue; throat yellow with 5 purple spots; lobes rounded, produced into an apiculus 0.75 lin. long. Anthers lanceolate; awn nearly as long as the cells, twisted, hairy outside in the lower part. Style filiform, glabrous. Nutlets 4, ovoid, scabrid, rugulose on the ventral side, margin raised, white and spiny. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical Africa)

Stem erect, branched, 1 ft. or more high, furnished with rigid white hairs springing from a discoid base; leaves opposite, ovate-oblong, acute, up to 2.5 by 1 in., bearing hairs like the stem, lower petioled, upper sessile; panicle many-flowered; pedicels up to 6 lin. long, slender, covered (like the outside of the calyx) with stiff white hairs 1 lin. long; calyx-lobes lanceolate, erect, 3–4 lin. long at flowering time; corolla scarcely exserted from the calyx, blue, throat yellow with 5 purple spots; lobes rounded, produced into an apiculus 0.75 lin. long; anthers lanceolate, awn nearly as long as the cells; style filiform, glabrous; nutlets 4, ovoid, scabrid, rugulose on the ventral side, margin raised, white and spiny. (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


Note: The identification of some of the plants on this website is not 100% certain. Any comments will be highly appreciated. I would also be willing to supply higher resolution images upon request. Please contact me at the e-mail address given below.

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