Vernonia cinerascens
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record (Click here to see images of this plant from Kyffhäuser)
Image 1
Flowers
07 Apr 2009
Image 2
Flowers
07 Apr 2009
Image 3
Leaves
07 Apr 2009
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Full name: | Vernonia cinerascens Sch.Bip. |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Asbos-vernonia |
| English common name(s): | Pale vernonia, Grey-leaved vernonia |
| Synonym(s): | Orbivestus cinerascens (Sch.Bip.) H.Rob. Vernonia luederitziana O.Hoffm. Vernonia porta-taurinae Dinter ex Merxm. Vernonia squarrosa Dinter ex Merxm. Vernonia tephrodoides Chiov. |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Flowers in terminal heads, heads 5 x 5 mm, florets purple. Laxly branched subshrub, usually less than 1.5 m tall. Stems several, stiffly woody, covered in dense grey, appressed, T-shaped hairs. Leaves singly or in clusters on woolly cushions along the stems and branches, sessile or shortly petiolate, narrowly obovate-spathulate, normally less than 4.5 x 1.2 cm, more or less densely covered with T-shaped hairs; margin finely crenulate-dentate near the apex, otherwise entire. Capitula numerous in terminal heads, purple, disk-florets only. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website) A shrub 1-3 ft. high with whitish-pubescent glandular stems and leaves; florets deep reddish-purple in stalked heads scarcely 0.25 in. broad. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of West Tropical Africa) A laxly-branched twiggy subshrub to 1.3(3) m tall. Stems several, stiff, woody, appressed greyish-tomentellous, glabrescent; indumentum dense, hairs very shortly stalked T-shaped; branches and twigs leafy, brittle, greyish- to yellowish-brown appressed-tomentellous. Leaves singly, or many in fascicles, from numerous tomentose cushions, sessile or shortly petiolate, up to 4.5 x 1.2 cm, usually smaller, narrowly obovate-spathulate to oblanceolate, apex truncate or rounded, base tapering-attenuate, margin crenulate-dentate about the apex otherwise entire, pubescent to glabrescent, gland-pitted, hairs T-shaped usually with one arm longer than the other. Capitula very numerous, paniculate or scorpioidly cymose, capitula stalks 0–16 mm long. Involucres up to c. 4 mm long, campanulate, soon loosely spreading-hemispheric. Phyllaries few, not firmly attached, soon diffusely arranged, apices purple truncate mucronate and somewhat serrulate, bases distinctly narrowed, margins ciliate, pubescent outside, hairs unequal-armed T-shaped; the outer phyllaries short, elliptic-ovate; the inner up to 3.5 mm long, oblong-oblanceolate. Corolla purple, up to c. 6 mm long. Achenes c. 2.5 mm long, somewhat cylindric, tapering to a sharp base, narrowly 6–8-ribbed, strigose-hispidulous; outer pappus very short of linear-acuminate scales; inner pappus of white barbellate setae c. 4 mm long. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Zambesiaca) Woody herb or shrub 0.4-2 m tall, much-branched; stems brittle, at first white-tomentose with short T-shaped hairs, when older with a blackish bark. Leaves sessile, somewhat grey-green, obovate to spatulate, 1-2(-4) cm long, 0.3-1.2(-1.8) cm wide, base attenuate or cuneate, margins subentire or crenate-denticulate, apex obtuse or rounded, almost glabrous above, finely pubescent and glabrescent beneath, with sunken glands. Capitula in small lax divaricate terminal corymbiform scorpioid cymes; stalks of individual capitula densely appressed-pubescent; involucre broadly ellipsoid-cylindrical to urceolate-campanulate, 3-4.5 mm long; phyllaries 3-seriate, green or greyish with purple-brown tips, ovate to lanceolate, acute to obtuse, apiculate, finely ascending-pubescent, the inner 2.7-4.5 mm long. Corolla deep purple to mauve, 4.6-6.5 mm long, tube narrowly infundibuliform, 3.5-4.3 mm long, lobes 1-1.2 mm long, glabrous or with a few slender subapical hairs, sparsely glandular. Achenes 2-3.2 mm long, strongly 5-10-ribbed, shortly ascending-pubescent; outer pappus of very narrow scales, 0.4-1 mm long, inner pappus white, 3-5 mm long. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical East Africa) Woody herb or shrub 0.3–2 m tall, much-branched, sometimes clambering in other shrubs; branches white-tomentose with short T-shaped hairs, when older with a blackish bark. Leaves sessile, grey-green, obovate to spatulate, 1–4 x 0.3–1.8 cm, subentire or crenate-denticulate, obtuse or rounded, almost glabrous above, finely pubescent and glabrescent beneath, with sunken glands. Capitula in terminal lax divaricate cymes; involucre 3–5 mm long; phyllaries 3-seriate, green or greyish with purple-brown tips, ovate to lanceolate, pubescent. Corolla deep purple to mauve, 4.6–6.5 mm long, lobes 1–1.2 mm long, glabrous or with a few slender subapical hairs, sparsely glandular. Achenes 2–3.2 mm long, strongly 5–10-ribbed, shortly pubescent; outer pappus of narrow scales, 0.4–1 mm long, inner pappus white, 3–5 mm long. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Somalia) A much branched shrub of 1–3 ft., branches terete covered when young as well as the leaves with white short appressed pubescence mixed with small sessile glands (the hairs attached by the middle). Leaves alternate, obovate-spathulate, rounded or obtuse at apex, attenuate at base, sessile, venation obscure, entire or with a few teeth, 0.333– 0.666 in. long by 0.1– 0.167 in. wide. Capitula about 10-flowered, of a rich purple or maroon colour, campanulate, scarcely 0.25 in. wide, on pedicels 0.1– 0.5 in. long, in diffuse axillary and terminal dichotomous cymes 1–4 in. wide. Scales of the involucre pluriseriate, lanceolate to oblong, apiculate, pubescent with greenish midrib above, lower smaller. Receptacle narrow, glabrous. Corolla purple, gradually narrowed. Anther-base obtuse. Achenes with 8–10 obscure ridges, with ascending setæ, very minutely pulverulent-glandular below the setæ. Pappus duplex, bar-bellate, outer very short. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical Africa) |
| 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 |
