Compilation
Melhania annua

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Name

Identification
Melhania annua Thulin [family STERCULIACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Dorr, L. J., Melhania unrecorded unrecorded [family STERCULIACEAE ]
Related name
  • Melhania annua
  • Melhania unrecorded

Flora

Entry for MELHANIA annua Thulin [family STERCULIACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Somalia
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora Somalia, Vol 2, (1999) Author: by M. Thulin [updated by M. Thulin 2008]
Names
MELHANIA annua Thulin [family STERCULIACEAE], (1999);. type: C1, 18 km on road from Masagaweyn to Bud Bud, 3°50’N, 46°58’E, Thulin, Hedrén & Abdi Dahir 7414 (UPS holo., K iso.). Fig. 13.
Information
Annual herb, 5–30 cm tall; young stems fairly sparsely covered by ± spreading stellate hairs. Leaves ± sparsely pubescent with spreading stellate hairs; petiole 5–30 mm long; stipules 1–8 mm long; blade ± broadly elliptic-oblong, 15–50 x 10–33 mm, rounded to truncate or slightly emarginate at the apex, with serrulate-dentate margins. Flowers in 2–3-flowered pubescent cymes or solitary; peduncle 5–30 mm long; pedicels 3–10 mm long; epicalyx bracts 5.5–8 x 4–8 mm in flower, up to 13 x 10 mm in fruit, ovate-triangular, cordate at the base, acute or slightly acuminate at the apex, pubescent. Sepals 4.8–9.5 x 1–2 mm, pubescent. Petals 6–7 mm long. Staminodes c. 5 mm long. Style c. 4 mm long. Capsule 5.5–8 mm long, subglobose to ovoid-oblong, pubescent, with 2–5-seeded cells. Seeds 2–2.3 mm long, dark brown, rugose, in the distal end usually with a smooth black swelling.
Range
C1; S2
Altitude range
5–220 m.
Distribution
SOMALIA Thulin, Hedrén & Abdi Dahir 7375; Thulin & Hedrén 7124; Thulin & Warfa 4516.
Distribution (external)
SE Kenya
Notes
Thulin, Hedrén & Abdi Dahir 7236 from S2, 16 km NE of Cadale along road to Ceeldheer differs from normal M. annua by having smaller flowers with an obsolete style, non-cordate epicalyx bracts, seeds without a black swelling in the distal end, and a somewhat more appressed indumentum on stems and leaves. Probably this is only a depauperate form of M. annua.

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