| Synonyms: |
Buchnera pulchra Skan ex S. Moore Lobostemon cryptocephalum Baker |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Erect annual herb, mostly up to 90 cm tall, drying green or brown, not black; stems simple or sparsely branched, scabrid. Leaves opposite or alternate along the stem, ovate-elliptic to oblong, 12–65 mm long, 3-5-veined, hispid-scabrid; margin entire. Inflorescence terminal in globose, hemispheric to cylindric, densely compacted head-like spikes, up to 38 mm long and 35 mm wide, usually subtended by numerous upper leaves. Bracts lanceolate, ovate or elliptic-lanceolate, 5.5–9 mm long, pilose-hispid, ciliate. Calyx 5-lobed, prominently 10-veined, hispid-scabrid especially on nerves; lobes ovate or ovate-lanceolate to linear-triangular, 1.5–2.75 mm. long. Corolla blue to purple; tube to about 10 mm long, hairless or minutely glandular outside, hairy in the throat; lobes broadly obovate, up to 4.5 mm long. Capsule ovoid-ellipsoid, 4–5 mm long, hairless. |
| Type location: |
Zambia |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | Wet grassland, woodland and marshy places. |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 600 - 2300 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Angola, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. |
| FZ divisions: | N,W,C,E |
| Zambian distribution (Provinces): | Lk |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Images last updated: | Wednesday 17 April 2019 |
| Literature: |
Baumann, G. (2005). Photographic Guide to Wildflowers of Malawi Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi Pages 130 - 131. as Buchnera pulchra (Includes a picture). Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 264. (Includes a picture). Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 77. Philcox, D. (1990). Scrophulariaceae Flora Zambesiaca 8(2) Pages 99 - 101. (Includes a picture). Phiri, P.S.M. (2005). A Checklist of Zambian Vascular Plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 32 Page 96. |