Compilation
Corchorus kirkii

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Name

Identification
Corchorus velutinus Wild [family TILIACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Wild, H., Corchorus kirkii N.E.Br. [family TILIACEAE ]
Related name
  • Corchorus hirsutus
  • Corchorus kirkii
  • Triumfetta pilosa
  • Corchorus velutinus
  • Corchorus pongolensis

Flora

Entry for Corchorus kirkii [family MALVACEAE]
Herbarium
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Compton Herbarium, Cape Town (SAM)
Collection
Flora of Southern Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of South Africa, (2003) Author: Dr J.P. Roux
Names
Corchorus kirkii [family MALVACEAE]
Common names
C. hirsufus sensu Mast, in F.T.A. 1: 264 (1868). C. pongolensis Burtt Davy & Greenway in Burtt Davy, Fl. Transv. 1: 37, 258 (1926); Weim. in Svensk bot. Tidskr. 30: 477, t.l fig. a (1936). Type: Transvaal, Water-berg District, Schlechter 4265 (K, holo.!; PRE!).
Information
Small shrub up to 2,5 m tall; branches densely greyish or yellowish tomentose. Leaf-blade 24-100 x 8-27 mm, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, rounded or acute at the apex, rounded or broadly cuneate at the base, mar­gin coarsely serrate, repand or finely serrate, thick-textured, densely grey-green or yellow­ish tomentose on both sides, nerves impress­ed above, somewhat prominent below; pe­tiole up to 13 mm long, greyish or yellowish tomentose; stipules up to 5 mm long, subu­late, tomentose on the back. Inflorescence of leaf-opposed 3-8-flowered cymes; peduncles up to 10 mm long but often much shorter, to­mentose; pedicels similar, up to 3 mm; bracts up to 8 mm long, subulate, tomentose or pilose on the back. Sepals up to 10 mm long, lanceolate-acuminate to linear, stellately pi­lose or tomentose on the back. Petals yellow, the same length as the sepals, narrowly obo-vate to linear-oblong, with a short basal claw ciliolate on the margin. Androgynophore 0,4 mm long with an annulus above. Stamens 20-30, filiform. Ovary cylindric, 3- or oc­
Habitat
The extreme form, represented by the type of C. pongolensis, would at first sight appear to be distinct. Its characteristic, greyish, tufted indumentum, its narrowly ovoid fruits, bracts usually longer than the flowers and leaves wider in proportion to their length, all seem to sep­arate it from C. kirkii with a smoother, velvety, yellowish indumentum, cylindric fruits and bracts shorter than the flowers. When the full range of material is examined, however, each one of these characters of typical C. pong­olensis can be found in what is otherwise typical C. kirkii, uncorrelated with the remainder. What is more, there is no phytogeographical segregation of the two entities. Plants with the elongate fruits of C. kirkii are found near the type locality of C. pongolensis in the Transvaal and plants with the indumentum of the latter, but agreeing otherwise with C. kirkii, are found on the northern bor­ders of Zimbabwe, not far from the type locality of C. kir­kii. It is possible that two distinct spec
Use
14. Corchorus kirkii N.E.Br, in Kew Bull. 1908: 288 (1908); Weim. in Svensk bot. Tidskr. 30: 478, t.16 (1936); Wild in F.Z. 2,1: 89 (1963); Wild & Goncalves in F.M. 28: 65 (1969). Syntypes: Mozambique, Tete, Kirk s.n. (K!); between Tete and Lupata, Kirk s.n. (K!).
Range
A species of open woodland which often occurs on the slopes of rocky hills. From the Transvaal to Zim­babwe, Mozambique and Botswana. Map 23.

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