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Pandiaka carsonii (Baker) C.B. Clarke
var. linearifolia Hauman

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Synonyms:	Cyathiula carsonii var. milnei (suesseng. & Overk) Di Vincenzo, Berrends., Wondafr. & Borsch. Pandiaka carsonii var. milnei (Suesseng. & Overk) Cavaco Pandiaka milnei Suesseng. & Overk.
Common names:
Frequency:	Rare to occasional
Status:	Native
Description:	Perennial herb, stem and branches slender, glabrous or thinly pilose in the upper part, striate; rootstock a tuber, spherical to large and parsnip-shaped, up to c. 15 cm long. Leaves very variable, from very narrowly linear to broadly obovate, sessile, (6) 20–70 × 1–18 mm, thinly pilose to somewhat floccose-hairy or frequently glabrous or almost so, the margins sometimes more or less crispate, acute to obtuse or apiculate at the apex. Inflorescence cylindrical (or occasionally capitate in small forms), 1.5–8 (10) × 1.25–1.75 cm, not involucrate, on a slender peduncle 1–15 cm. long, axis brownish or usually white-pilose. Bracts very variable in size; from c. 2 mm. long, deltoid-ovate and scarcely differing from the bracteoles to broadly lanceolate, up to 7 mm long and subequalling the perianth, white, firm, glabrous to minutely ciliate, the midrib shortly excurrent. Bracteoles deltoid-ovate, 1.5–3 mm long, the nerve shortly to long-excurrent, glabrous or ciliate, falling with the perianth. Tepals more or less equal in length, 5–7 mm long, with a narrow green central band, a pale midrib and two shorter white nerves, broadly white-bordered, shortly and finely mucronate, glabrous or thinly pilose above especially along the firm margins of the central green portion and/or the midrib or extreme apex. Capsule oblong-ovoid with a narrower firm apex, 2.5–3 mm long. Seeds oblong-ovoid, 2.25–2.75 mm long, brown, shining, faintly reticulate. Var.linearifolia has leaves narrowly linear to filiform with those of the central part of the main stem rarely attaining 3 mm in width.
Type location:	DRC
Notes:
Derivation of specific name:	carsonii: named after Alexander Carson (1850-1896), British engineer and avid plant collector in Zambia. linearifolia: with linear leaves.
Habitat:	Drier parts and edges of dambos, grassy plains on Kalahari Sand, damp sand and black soil by rivers, damp shallow soil on sandstone and occasionally in Brachystegia woodland.
Altitude range: (metres)	1150 - 1400 m
Flowering time:	Oct - Feb
Worldwide distribution:	DRC (Katanga) and Zambia
FZ divisions:	B,N,W,C
Zambian distribution (Provinces):	Nw,Cb,N,Lk
Growth form(s):	Perennial.
Endemic status:	Near Endemic
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Images last updated:	Monday 30 March 2026
Literature:	Townsend, C.C. (1988). Amaranthaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(1) Pages 121 - 122.

Other sources of information about Pandiaka carsonii var. linearifolia:

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Pandiaka carsonii
African Plant Database: Pandiaka carsonii
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Pandiaka carsonii
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Pandiaka carsonii
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Pandiaka carsonii
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Pandiaka carsonii
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Pandiaka carsonii
JSTOR Plant Science: Pandiaka carsonii
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Pandiaka carsonii
Plants of the World Online: Pandiaka carsonii
Tropicos: Pandiaka carsonii
Wikipedia: Pandiaka carsonii

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