Entry for PANDIAKA Welwitschii Hiern. [family AMARANTHACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical Africa, Vol 6, Part 1, page 14, (1913) Author: (By J. G. Baker, with additions by C. H. Wright.)
Names
PANDIAKA WelwitschiiHiern. [family AMARANTHACEAE], in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 894.
Achyranthes WelwitschiiSchinz [family AMARANTHACEAE], in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 187, in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 174.
Information
A hairy erect herb, 1–2 ft. high. Leaves opposite, subsessile, 1 1/4 in. long, obovate, rounded at the top. Spikes 1 1/2 by 3/5 in., straw-coloured; bracteoles about 2/3 the length of the perianth, ovate, acuminate, subspinescent. Perianth 1/4 in. long; segments elliptic-oblong, suddenly shortly acuminate, subspinescent, with many long white hairs on the back. Staminodes quadrate, slightly toothed at the top. Ovary obtusely obovate at the top.
Distribution
Angola Lower Guinea Huilla; at Lopollo, Welwitsch, 6488! 6491!
Notes
Welwitsch 6487 (not cited by Hiern) is a proliferous form of the same species, each flower being represented by a spike of bracts an inch long. A similar monstrosity occurs in Achyranthes aspera .