Entry for CUSCUTA planiflora (Yuncker) Verdc. var. madagascarensis [family CONVOLVULACEAE]
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (1963) Author: B. VERDCOURT (East African Herbarium)
Names
CUSCUTA planiflora (Yuncker) Verdc. var. madagascarensis [family CONVOLVULACEAE], in K.B. 12: 337 (1957) [sphalm madagascariensis ]; Meeuse in Bothalia 6 : 656 (1958). Type : Madagascar, without locality, Baron 3466 (K, holo. !)
CUSCUTA madagascarensis Yuncker [family CONVOLVULACEAE], in Mem. Torr. Bot. Club 18 : 276, fig. 144 (1932)
Notes
VARIATION. Fries 2216 has been identified by Yuncker as his species. It differs from the type in having obtuse calyx-lobes and broader scales—of little importance in this section of the genus. Cuscuta mearnsii Yuncker in Brittonia 9 : 135 (1957) (Type : Kenya, Nyeri to Wambugu, Mearns 1927 (BM, holo. !, US, iso.)) appears to be a form of C. planiflora allied to var. madagascarensis but with smaller flowers. The stems are thin; flowers 5-merous, membranous or scarcely fleshy; the calyx- and corolla-lobes are obtuse or at least blunt, calyx-lobes ovate-triangular to narrowly oblong, 1.5 mm. long and 0.75–1.2 mm. wide; corolla-lobes equalling the tube, together about 2.2 mm. long; stamens about as long as the lobes; scales reaching just beyond the base of the lobes, fringed at apex and with wide rounded sinuses; styles and stigmas about equal, together 1.5–1.75 mm. long. This appears to be a form which is probably worth naming but innumerable forms could be named. Until field studies have been made it is not wise to bestow numerous names. Yuncker compares his species with C. europaea L., a plant I know well in the field, which has much coarser stems, very much larger inflorescences and is quite dissimilar.
