Source:
SSA
Synonym(s):
Echinostachys E.Mey.: 243 (1837).
Description:
Perennial, erect herbs or soft shrubs. Leaves sometimes whorled, toothed or crenate. Inflorescences terminal on main or lateral branches; verticils densely crowded; flowers blue or mauve, rarely whitish; bracts small, distinct from leaves. Calyx subequally 5-toothed; teeth subulate, rigid, spinescent. Corolla bilabiate; tube cylindric below, enlarging near throat, deflexed; upper lip 4-lobed, shorter than the lower; lower lip large, boat-shaped. Stamens 4, didynamous, declinate, arising in corolla throat and lying in lower lip; filaments shortly united at base. Disc produced in front. Style slender, shortly 2-fid at apex, slightly exceeding stamens in length. Nutlets ovoid, black or brown. x = 17 (polyploidy).
Distribution:
Species 37, in tropical Africa and Madagascar; 3 in sthn Afr.: N Botswana, Northern Province, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal and to the Kentani area in Eastern Cape.
Classification:
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