Stemodia verticillata (Mill.) Hassl.

Whorled twintip (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Lamiales > Plantaginaceae > Stemodia

Characteristics

Erect or sprawling diminutive herbs to 15 cm tall, the stems slender, freely branching, drying angled, pilose with weak translucent hairs. Leaves opposite or ternate, broadly ovate, mostly 10-15 mm long, 8-12 mm wide, apically rounded or obtuse, basally cuneate to truncate, the margins conspicuously serrate with 7-9 teeth on each side, the teeth often double, the venation pinnate with ca. 4 lateral veins on each side, sparingly pilose on both sides, soon glabrescent above, not noticeably punctate or glandular; petioles about ? as long as the leaves, slender but broadening upwards, pilose above, pubescent beneath. Inflorescences solitary in the leaf axils, often geminate or ternate, the pedicels short, ca. 1 mm long, drying angled, ebracteate. Flowers with the calyx 5-lobed to near the base, the lobes alike, linear, separate, costate, hyaline margined, 3 mm long, glandular pilose, corolla blue or purplish with a white eye, tubular, 5 mm long, 2-lipped, the upper lip truncate, apically sinuate or emarginate, saccate, puberulent out-side, the inside bearded at the throat with stout, whitish clavate, unicellular hairs, the lower lip 3-lobed, the lobes truncate, glabrate, the tube white with dark lines, ciliate on the angles, slightly curved, otherwise glabrate outside, the inside generally pubescent on the dorsal side and near the bottom with long slender unicellular hairs; stamens 4 in 2 pairs, the ventral pair inserted ca. 1 mm above the bottom of the corolla tube, free ca. 2 mm, glabrous, the thecae reduced, ca. 0.15 mm long, parallel, separated by the somewhat enlarged connective, the dorsal pair inserted slightly unequally slightly above the ventral pair, 1 mm free, the thecae strongly divaricate, separated by the enlarged connective, 0.3 mm long, a short staminode inserted at the base of the tube between the 2 dorsal anthers; ovary glabrous, smooth, narrowly ovoid conical, compressed, the style stout, short, 1.0-1.5 mm long, basally expanded, the stigma compressed obtuse with conspicuous lateral appendages, ultimately recurving. Fruit a globose capsule ca. 1.25 mm across, dehiscing loculicidally and septicidally as far down as the septum (ca. ?/2 way down), the style persistent on 1 valve, the placenta ellipsoidal, ca. 1 mm long, extending little more than ?/2 the length of the capsule, punctate, the septum thickening, indurate below, the lower ?/2 persistent with the placenta and the lower ?/2 of the capsule, above narrow, and not persisting after dehis-cence; seeds oblong to pyriform, 0.5 mm long, brownish yellow, longitudinally ca. 8 sulcate, the surface minutely rugose.
Life form annual
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.15
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) 9-12

Usage

Uses medicinal
Edible -
Therapeutic use Toothache (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

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

Images

Habit

Stemodia verticillata habit picture by Trap Hers (cc-by-sa)

Leaf

Stemodia verticillata leaf picture by Oliveira Vander (cc-by-sa)
Stemodia verticillata leaf picture by Sulistiani (cc-by-sa)
Stemodia verticillata leaf picture by DE BONA Micael (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Stemodia verticillata flower picture by Santos Linda (cc-by-sa)
Stemodia verticillata flower picture by Trap Hers (cc-by-sa)
Stemodia verticillata flower picture by Sarah Smadja (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Stemodia verticillata world distribution map, present in Anguilla, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, Micronesia (Federated States of), Guinea, Guadeloupe, Equatorial Guinea, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Martinique, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Réunion, Singapore, El Salvador, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, United States of America, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, and South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:244449-2
WFO ID wfo-0000496041
COL ID 4ZSSF
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 630736
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Lendneria humilis Poarium verticillatum Lendneria verticillata Moniera diffusa Erinus verticillatus Stemodia arenaria Capraria humilis Conobea ovata Conobea pumila Stemodia neglecta Lindernia verticillata Stemodia macrotricha Poarium veronicoides Stemodiacra verticillata Lindenbergia petelotii Bacopa diffusa Stemodia humilis Stemodia parviflora Stemodia verticillata