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Compilation
Acanthus edulis

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Holotype of Acanthus edulis Forssk. [family ACANTHACEAE]

Type? of Acanthodium spicatum Delile [family ACANTHACEAE]

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Name

Identification

Acanthus edulis Forssk. [family ACANTHACEAE ] Verified by Not on Sheet, Blepharis ciliaris (L.) B.L.L. Burtt [family ACANTHACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on Sheet, Ruellia persica Burm. [family ACANTHACEAE ] Verified by Not on Sheet, Blepharis edulis Forssk. [family ACANTHACEAE ] Verified by F.N. Hepper, 1984

Flora

Entry for BLEPHARIS edulis (Forssk.) Pers. [family ACANTHACEAE]

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)

Reference Sources

Flora Somalia, (2000) Author: by M. Hedrén (Asystasia, Barleria, Duosperma, Hypoestes, Ichthyostoma, Isoglossa, Justicia, Lepidagathis, Peristrophe, Ruellia, Ruspolia) and M. Thulin (Acanthus, Anisotes, Blepharis, Crabbea, Crossandra, Dicliptera, Dyschoriste, Ecbolium, Elytraria, Megalochlamys, Neuracanthus, Rhinacanthus, Ruttya, Satanocrater, Thunbergia) [updated by M. Thulin 2008]

BLEPHARIS edulis (Forssk.) Pers. [family ACANTHACEAE], (1806);

Acanthus edulis Forssk. [family ACANTHACEAE], (1775). [type as above]

BLEPHARIS edulis A. Terracc. var. oblongata [family ACANTHACEAE], in Bull. Soc. Bot. Ital. 1892: 424 (1892);. type: N1, ”El-Anot”, Baudi & Candeo s.n. (FT holo.).

BLEPHARIS obovata Chiov. [family ACANTHACEAE], (1926);. type: S3, “Chisimaio”, Gorini 64 (FT holo.).

BLEPHARIS edulis Chiov. forma minima [family ACANTHACEAE], Fl. Somala 2: 350 (1932);. type: S2, Mogadishu, Senni 503 (FT holo.).

Annual or perennial herb or occasionally subshrub; stems erect to prostrate, up to 50 cm long, glabrous to pubescent. Leaves lanceolate to ovate, elliptic or obovate, up to 1.5–9(–14) x 0.3–1.4(–1.7) cm, glabrous to pubescent on both sides, margin with 3 to many spreading teeth. Spikes 1.5–14(–22) cm long, 4–50-flowered; peduncle c. 5–50 mm long; fertile bracts green to glaucous, glabrous to densely puberulous and usually also with longer hairs, narrowly to broadly ovate, 12–57 x 6–18(–20) mm, with a straight to recurved spinose 5–28(–32) mm long tip, and with (3–) 4–8(–10) spines up to 3–8(–10) mm long on each side; bracteoles 7–14(–18) x 1–2 mm. Calyx ± densely pubescent, the upper lobe ± broadly ovate-elliptic, (9–)12–19(–21) mm long, 5–7-veined from the base, 3-toothed at the apex, the lower lobe (6–)8–14(–16) mm long, with 2 teeth at the apex. Corolla blue, mauve or purple, (15–)17–27(–30) mm long; tube 3–7 mm long; limb 8–16(–18) mm wide.

N1–3; C1, 2; S1–3 Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and westwards to Mauritania, also on the Arabian Peninsula and eastwards to Iran.

SOMALIA Hemming 1277; Bally & Melville 15261; Thulin, Hedrén & Abdi Dahir 7645.

This is an exceedingly variable species and plants in dry places or from the beginning of the rainy season may be very small with often a single spike only, whereas under more favourable conditions large, procumbent, branching plants may develop.