Compilation
Ocimum obovatum

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Name

Identification
Ocimum obovatum E.Mey. ex Benth. [family LAMIACEAE ]
Related name
  • Ocimum obovatum

Flora

Entry for BECIUM obovatum N. E. Br. [family LABIATAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Capensis
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora Capensis, Vol 5, page 226, (1912) Author: By N. E. BROWN, T. COOKE and S. A. SKAN.
Names
BECIUM obovatum N. E. Br. [family LABIATAE]
Ocimum obovatum E. Meyer [family LABIATAE], Comm. 226; Drège, Zwei Pfl. Documente, 205; Benth. in DC. Prodr. xii. 35; Wood, Natal Pl. iii. t. 257.
Ocimum serpyllifolium Benth. var. glabrior [family LABIATAE], in E. Meyer, Comm. 226 (excl. syn.).
Ocimum striatum Hochst. [family LABIATAE], in Flora, 1845, 66; Krauss, Beitr. Fl. Capund Natal. 130.
Information
stems several from a perennial woody rootstock, herbaceous, 5–10 in. high, puberulous; leaves with petioles 1/2–2 lin. long; blade 3/4–2 1/4 in. long, 1/4–1 1/4 in. broad, varying from lanceolate to suborbicular, acute or obtuse, usually tapering into the petiole, entire or slightly toothed, usually glabrous on both sides, occasionally puberulous on the veins beneath, secondary veins usually distinctly visible beneath; flower-whorls all crowded into a dense head-like or short spike-like raceme or the lower 1–3 distant, all with a pair of rather large crater-like glands at their base; racemes often crowned with a tuft of small dark (purple?) leafy bracts; pedicels 1/2– 3/4 (in fruit up to 1 1/2) lin. long; calyx campanulate, whitish-pubescent outside, glabrous within, much reticulated, dark purple on the upper side; tube 1 1/2 (in fruit 3) lin. long, ciliate and entire or finely denticulate at the mouth between the dorsal and lower teeth; dorsal tooth about 1 lin. long, elliptic-ovate, obtuse, decurrent on the tube; lower teeth 1/4– 3/4 lin. long, bristle-like; corolla white or pink (Wood), pubescent on the lips outside; tube 3 lin. long; upper lip 3 1/2–5 lin. long from the base of gape, with 4 subquadrate somewhat toothed or crisped lobes, 2 lateral shorter and broader than the others; lower lip 1/5– 1/4 in. long, concave, elliptic, obtuse; stamens all free, much exserted; upper pair 7–9 lin. long, with a retrorse ciliate crest at the bend near the base of the filaments; lower pair 3/4 in. long; nutlets slightly compressed, orbicular, 1/16 in. in diam., pale brown. null
Range
Also in Tropical Africa.
Distribution
COAST REGION Bedford Div.; near Bedford, Mrs. Hutton! East London Div.; near Panmure, Mrs. Hutton!EASTERN REGION Transkei; between Gekau (Geua) River and Bashee River, Drège, 4770! Fort Bowker, Bowker, 559! Griqualand East; near Clydesdale, Tyson, 1061! and in MacOwan & Bolus, Herb. Norm. Austr.-Afr. 471! Natal; various localities, Drège, 4769! Krauss, 390! Sutherland! Sanderson! Gerrard, 325! Wood, 75! 86! 1340! 1397! Wilms, 3188! between Delagoa Bay and Pretoria, a pubescent form, Bolus, 9738! Var. γ: Natal; Gerrard, 326! Sanderson, 269! Zululand, Eshowe, Mrs. K. Saunders, 7!KALAHARI REGION Var. β: Orange River Colony; on the Drakensberg Range, Cooper, 824! Transvaal; many localities, common, Burke, 515! Zeyher, 1353! McLea in Herb. Bolus, 3106! Wilms, 1112! 1119! Rand, 710! 1277! Gilfillan in Herb. Galpin, 6062! Bolus, 9740! Gough! Schlechter, 3775! 4684! Burtt Davy, 2094! 5040! 7292! Miss Leendertz, 210! 1516 (a pubescent form)! 1730! Var. γ: Transvaal; Saddleback Range, near Barberton, Galpin, 413 ex Guerke, Thorncroft, 4334! Devils Kantoor, Bolus, 9739! Woodbush Mountains, Barber, 17!
Notes
An exceedingly variable species in the form and indumentum of the leaves. The variety hians can usually be readily distinguished by its appearance, but I believe this is merely due to the drier and higher region in which it occurs, some of the narrow-leaved specimens of the lower level typical form being almost indistinguishable from it, I find no difference in the flowers.

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