Source:
SSA
Description:
Herbs, creeping or erect. Leaves opposite or alternate, rarely 3-nate, sessile or shortly petioled. Flowers usually axillary and solitary on slender pedicels, rarely in a lax raceme. Calyx 5-partite; segments lanceolate or subulate, spreading. Corolla 5-partite; segments obovate or linear. Stamens arising at base of corolla and shorter than it; filaments usually bearded. Ovary superior, globose; style simple. Capsule enclosed in persistent calyx and with persistent style, circumscissile or indehiscent. Seeds ellipsoid, 3-angled or 3-winged or with a circular wing forming a concave face and deeply keeled on other side. x = 10, 11 (7) (high polyploidy).
Distribution:
Species 20-30, fairly cosmopolitan, mostly under relatively moist conditions; 4 in sthn Afr., Swaziland, Lesotho, all provinces of South Africa except Northern Cape.
Classification:
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