Compilation
Dianthera americana

9 Images see all

Previous
Next

Name

Identification
Dianthera americana L. [family ACANTHACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by James L. Reveal, Justicia americana (L.) Vahl [family ACANTHACEAE ] Verified by James L. Reveal,
Related name
  • Rhytiglossa pedunculosa
  • Justicia americana
  • Dianthera americana
  • Dianthera flava
  • Justicia flava
  • Adhatoda flava

Flora

Entry for JUSTICIA flava Vahl [family ACANTHACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical Africa, page 1, (1900) Author: (By I. H. Burkill and C. B. Clarke.)
Names
JUSTICIA flava Vahl [family ACANTHACEAE], Symb. ii. 15, not of Kurz. Herb, 2–4 ft. high, hairy.
JUSTICIA plicata Vahl [family ACANTHACEAE], Enum. i. 156; Schumach. & Thonn. Beskr. Guin. Pl. 11; T. Anders. in Journ. Linn. Soc. vii. 39; Oliv. in Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Bot. ii. 345; S. Moore in Journ. Bot. 1880, 310; Lindau in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. 3 B. 349.
JUSTICIA fasciata Drège [family ACANTHACEAE], Zwei Pfl. Docum. 160, 195; T. Anders. in Journ. Linn. Soc. vii. 39; Lindau in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. 3 B. 349, and in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 373.
JUSTICIA major T. Anders. [family ACANTHACEAE], in Journ. Linn. Soc. vii. 39; Lindau in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. 3 B. 349, and in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 373; and in Ann. Istit. Bot. Roma, vi. (1896) 83.
JUSTICIA minor T. Anders. [family ACANTHACEAE], in Journ. Linn. Soc. vii. 39; Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. Trop. Afr. 392; Lindau in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. 3 B. 349; Rendle in Journ. Bot. 1896, 411.
JUSTICIA palustris Oliv. [family ACANTHACEAE], in Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Bot. ii. 345; Lindau in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. 3 B. 349, and in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 373 (including var. dispersa, Lindauin Engl. Jahrb. xx. 72), not of T. Anders.
JUSTICIA suaveolens Lindau [family ACANTHACEAE], in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. 3 B. 349.
JUSTICIA fallax Lindau [family ACANTHACEAE], in Engl. Jahrb. xx. 74, and in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. 3 B. 349.
JUSTICIA fruticulosa Lindau [family ACANTHACEAE], in Engl. Jahrb. xx. 75, and partly in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. 3 B. 349.
Dianthera americana Forsk. α [family ], Descr. Ægypt.-Arab. 9.
Dianthera americana Forsk. β [family ], Descr. Ægypt.-Arab. 9.
Dianthera flava Vahl [family ], Symb. i. 5.
Tyloglossa major Hochst. [family ACANTHACEAE], in Flora, 1843, 73.
Tyloglossa minor Hochst. [family ACANTHACEAE], in Flora, 1843, 73.
Adhatoda flava Nees [family ACANTHACEAE], in DC. Prod. xi. 401.
Adhatoda plicata Nees [family ACANTHACEAE], in DC. Prod. xi. 401; Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. 484.
Adhatoda suaveolens Nees [family ACANTHACEAE], in DC. Prod. xi. 401.
Adhatoda major Nees [family ACANTHACEAE], in DC. Prod. xi. 397; A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. ii. 156.
Adhatoda minor Nees [family ACANTHACEAE], in DC. Prod. xi. 400; A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. ii. 156; Solms-Laub. in Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 103, 242; Zarb, Catal. Spéc. Bot. Pfund, 32.
Adhatoda fasciata Nees [family ACANTHACEAE], in DC. Prod. xi. 402.
Information
Leaves up to 3 1/4 by 1 1/4 in. (usually smaller), ovate-lanceolate, hairy on both surfaces, shortly decurrent on the petiole; petiole 0– 2/3 in. long. Spikes terminal, 4–8 by 3/4 in., continuous, or interrupted at the base, lower whorls sometimes distant and passing into axillary clusters; floral leaves 1/3– 1/2 in. long, broad-lanceolate to linear-oblong, obtuse, containing 3–1 flowers, green, hairy; flower-bract nearly similar but smaller. Sepals 5, 1/10– 1/8 in. long, with long white hairs and also with very short moniliform hairs. Filaments glabrous; one anther-cell below the other, tailed; pollen ellipsoid with two stopples and a row of tubercles on each side of the stopple upon the longitudinal band. Ovary nearly glabrous except at the top; style hairy below, branches 2, very short, oblong, subequal. Capsule 1/3 by 1/8 in., 4-seeded, shortly and densely retrose-hairy; stalk 1/10– 1/8 in. long, nearly as thick as the capsule; seeds globose, moderately compressed, yellow-brown, finally nearly black, marked by corrugations perpendicular to the margin (as in many Ammonites).
Distribution
Angola Lower Guinea Loanda, Welwitsch, 5135! Pungo Andongo, Welwitsch, 5074! 5097! Golungo Alto, 1000–2500 ft., Welwitsch, 5183! Huilla, Welwitsch, 5035! 5036! Antunes, 142! Ambriz, Monteiro! Malange, Buchner, 46!German East Africa Mozamb. Dist. Kilimanjaro, Volkens, 513! 440! Meyer, 61! 346! New! Johnston, 59! Usambara; Tanga, Volkens, 171! Rahe, Volkens, 2207! Mascheua, Holst, 8732! 8867!East Africa Mozamb. Dist. Fischer, 87!Portuguese East Africa Mozamb. Dist. Mozambique, Prelado, 23!Nyasaland Mozamb. Dist. Masuka Plateau, 6500–7000, Whyte!Nubia Nile Land Hor Tamanib near Suakin, Lord! Erkowit Mountain near Suakin, Schweinfurth, 256!Eritrea Nile Land Aidereso, 4000 ft., Schweinfurth & Riva, 1445! Ginda, 3000 ft., Schweinfurth & Riva, 2128! Keren, Steudner, 1526! Habab, 6000 ft., Hildebrandt, 681!!Abyssinia Nile Land Gondar, Boehm, 53! mountains near Gageros, 3500–6000 ft., Schimper, 172! 2296! Modat, Schimper, 1043! Tacazze River, 4000 ft., Schimper, 1251! and without precise locality, Schimper, 31! 429! 685! 1224!Somaliland Nile Land on the coast at Barava, Kirk! Galle Borani, Riva, 240! Daua River, Riva, 1192! Adda Galla, James & Thrupp! Darrar and Smith River, Donaldson Smith! and without precise locality, Miss Edith Cole!British East Africa Nile Land east side of Lake Albert Edward, Scott-Elliot, 8085! Uganda, Stuhlmann, 1367! Bukoba, Stuhlmann, 4005! Kavirondo; Samia, Scott-Elliot, 7082! Maungu Mountain, 2000 ft., Johnston! Taita; Ndara Mountain, 2000–3000 ft., Hildebrandt, 2451! Gregory! Ukamba, Hildebrandt, 2714! 2717! Gregory! Sabaki River, Gregory! Duruma, Hildebrandt, 2334! Mombasa, Kirk! Hildebrandt, 1940! Scott-Elliot, 6120! 6125! Nyika country near Mombasa, Wakefield!Gold Coast Upper Guinea Cape Coast Castle, Vogel!Togoland Upper Guinea Büttner, 218! 258! 286! 289! 397! 648! Kling, 188! 190! Baumann, 393!Lagos Upper Guinea Millen, 32! 37! Rowland!Niger Upper Guinea by the River Quorra (Niger), Vogel, 167! Lower Niger; Onitsa, Barter, 619! 1779!
Notes
The colour of the corolla is known to be yellow in J. plicata (the Upper Guinea plant), in the more ovate-leaved Angola plant, in the Abyssinia (Eritrea) plant, and in the Mozambique examples (including the Natal J. fasciata). The colour of the corolla is not known to me in J. major and J. minor (Abyssinia); but the type examples appear to me identical with the J. flava from Arabia and Eritrea (Schweinfurth). Species have been founded on the degree of denseness of the inflorescence, and the distance (1/2–2 in.) by which the lowest whorl of 6 (or fewer) flowers stands apart from the next upper whorl. S. Moore says that “in this species there is considerable diversity in the size and number of seeds on the same specimen”; and Lindau refers J. major to sect. Monechma, J. plicata to sect. Rostellaria. I remark on these views that J. major and J. plicata look to me identical, and that the seeds are most uniform in all the examples cited here. The most striking aberrations from the typical J. flava among the material above brought together are:(1) Hildebrandt, 1940, from Mombasa (and several similar examples from the same neighbourhood), published by Lindau as J. palustris, var. dispersa : this has ovate leaves, 1 by 2/3 in. The indumentum of the calyx is that of J. flava (not of J. palustris).(2) Welwitsch, 5035, 5097, from Angola (and other examples from the same locality), published by S. Moore as J. plicata, var.; this has ovate leaves, but is rather larger than Hildebrandt, 1940.(3) Rowland's Lagos plant, which has floral leaves up to 3/4 in. long, spikes dense (in one case going off into a close compound panicle).(4) Schweinfurth, 256, from Mount Erkowit, near Suakin, a small plant with small leaves, and the spike much interrupted below (with, in fact, axillary clusters of flowers). This may be a separable species; but the fruit and seeds, the flower and calyx-indumentum, are as in J. flava .

Related Materials