Diascia megathura Hilliard & B.L.Burtt

Species

Angiosperms > Lamiales > Scrophulariaceae > Diascia

Characteristics

Stoloniferous perennial herb, stems few or several from the crown, simple or sparingly branched, up to 450 mm long, 2-3 mm diam., lower part prostrate, rooting near base, flowering part erect, sparsely glandular-pilose, more densely so on the inflorescence. Leaves mostly 15-30 x 11-20 mm, diminishing in size upwards, ovate, elliptic-ovate or broadly elliptic, apex obtuse, base broadly cuneate, margins entire to obscurely serrulate or crenate, thick-textured, glabrous or nearly so above, a few long gland-tipped hairs mainly over the veins below, dark green above, sometimes reddish below; petiole up to 3 mm long, upper leaves nearly sessile. Flowers somewhat nodding, few to many in terminal racemes, simple or sparingly branched; bracts up to 6 x 4 mm, ovate-lanceolate, acute; pedicels mostly 15-20 mm long, spreading at an angle of about 45°, curved downwards at the tip, glandular-pilose. Calyx segments lanceolate, two anticous ones c. 5 x 2 mm, three posticous ones slightly smaller, glandular-pilose. Corolla tube c. 6 mm long, invaginated between the spurs and deeply grooved down the back, two lateral spurs c. 6-8 mm long spreading at right angles to the tube, each with a patch of dark sessile glands within at the tip; limb c. 20 mm long, anticous lobe c. 9 x 11 mm, hemispherical, the two lateral lobes much smaller and ascending to join the two posticous ones, forming an upper lip c. 9 x 16 mm, lobes ± hemispherical, whole corolla rich pink, sparsely glandular-pilose outside, glabrous inside except for two patches of dark sessile glands at the mouth of the tube, on the ridges flanking the essential organs, and sometimes a few similar glands around the sinuses of the 4 upper lobes, “window” elongate and merging with a boss descending to the base of the filaments, yellow marked in the upper part with dark brownish-maroon blotches and streaks. Stamens unalike, the filaments of the anticous pair arching up and forward, c. 6 mm long, glandular-villous in the upper part, anthers greatly reduced, sterile or containing a few yellow pollen grains; filaments of the posticous pair reclining in a hollow in the floor of the corolla tube, c. 3 mm long, glabrous, or with a few gland-tipped hairs; anthers c. 1.5 mm long, pollen green. Ovary c. 2 x 1 mm, deltoid in outline, ovules many in each loculus; style c. 3 mm long, reclining; stigma capitate, lying between the lower pair of anthers. Capsule up to 20 x 7 mm, lanceolate in outline; seeds c. 1.75 mm long, curved, broadly winged, ridged.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) -
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-11

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 14 - 30
Germination temperacture (C°) 15
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Diascia megathura world distribution map, present in Lesotho and South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:901939-1
WFO ID wfo-0000644725
COL ID 6CRHL
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Diascia megathura