Thesium fragile L.F.

Species

Angiosperms > Santalales > Santalaceae > Thesium

Characteristics

An erect brittle suffrutex, 10-40 cm tall, heath-like, yellowish to golden green in appearance, with a woody rootstock and simple tap-root, scarcely to much-branched, about 4-10 branches, branching pattern virgate, leaves subtending branchlet absent or present, if present at early growth stage. Stems woody at base, herbaceous at distal portion, 2-4 mm in diameter, erect, glabrous, sulcate or subangled in transverse section. Leaves sparingly [?] and almost reduced to scales, subrotund, adpressed to the stem, golden to yellowish green, glabrous, no prominent venation or midrib, leaf apex subacute to obtuse, margins entire or cartilaginous, recurved or straight. Inflorescences arranged along the branch length, in axils of branchlets, solitary, sessile to the stem; bracts and bracteoles reduced to scales, bracts fleshy, 0.7-1.5 x 0.5-1.3 mm, broadly triangular, margin slightly fringed with brown, membranous or cartilaginous edges, obtuse at tips, much shorter relative to the flower length, incurved; bracteoles bract-like but smaller, 0.5-1.2 x 0.4-1 mm; flowers campanulate, golden to yellowish green, 0.8-1.8 x 0.7-1.3 mm, 4-merous, rarely 5-merous, external glands absent between perianth lobes, perianth lobe segments 0.5-1.1 x 0.4-0.8 mm, ovate, obtuse at tips; hypanthium tube conspicuous, 0.3-0.5 mm long. Male and female plants quite similar. Male plant: branches robust and sparingly arranged along the stem length, internode 8-12.5 mm long; leaves lax, not imbricate, broadly ovate to triangular, 1-2.5 x 0.5-1 mm; inflorescence lax; hypanthium tube short to non-existent, shorter than perianth lobe tubes, stamen tetramerous, rarely pentamerous; staminal filaments exserted at junction of hypanthium and perianth lobe tubes, about 0.2 mm. Female plants: branches robust, internodes 2-12.9 mm; leaves lax, not imbricate, broadly ovate to triangular, 1-2.2 x 0.5-1 mm; inflorescences spike; hypanthium tubes more conspicuous but shorter than perianth lobe tubes; style stout, 0.3-0.5 mm. Fruit nutlets, truncated to globose, white, attached to the branch by a truncated creamy elaiosome, 2-3.5 x 1.8-2.7 mm, with 5 conspicuous or faint ribs, with or without faint reticulation between the ribs, perianth lobe remnants persistent, green when young but turning yellow to orange with age, equal or shorter than fruit length.
Life form -
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.1 - 0.4
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 5-6
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) -

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
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 -

Distribution

Thesium fragile world distribution map, present in South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:780843-1
WFO ID wfo-0000454843
COL ID -
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Thesium fragile