Ajuga

L.
Source: 
SSA
Description: 
Perennial herbs, often decumbent or stoloniferous. Leaves mostly in a basal rosette, usually coarsely toothed to incised. Inflorescences terminal, spike-like, verticillate; verticils 2-many-flowered; bracts leaf-like, becoming smaller towards apex. Calyx short, subequally 5-fid or 5-toothed; tube campanulate. Corolla unequally 2-lipped; tube short, constricted near base with a ring of hairs within constriction; upper lip short, subentire, emarginate or 2-fid; lower lip large, spreading, 3-lobed, median lobe the largest, emarginate or 2-fid. Stamens 4, curved within upper lip, lower pair slightly longer; filaments linear; anthers 2-thecous, with thecae divergent, finally confluent. Ovary shortly 4-lobed nearly to middle; style 2-fid, lobes somewhat unequal. Nutlets obovoid, reticulate-rugose, attached by a broad oblique areole which extends beyond middle. x = 8 (7) (aneuploids, high polyploidy, B-chromosomes-1 report).
Distribution: 
Species 50, mainly in temperate areas of the Old World; 1 in sthn Afr.: Ajuga ophrydis Burch. ex Benth. in eastern parts of region: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho and Eastern Cape.
Classification: 

Add new comment

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith