Compilation
Talinum tenuissimum

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Name

Identification
Talinum tenuissimum Dinter [family PORTULACACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on sheet.,
Related name
  • Talinum tenuissimum
  • Talinum transvaalense

Flora

Entry for TALINUM tenuissimum Dinter [family PORTULACACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (2002) Author: SYLVIA M. PHILLIPS
Names
TALINUM tenuissimum Dinter [family PORTULACACEAE], Neue Pfl. Südw.-Afr.: 55 (1914); Poelln. in F.R. 35: 18 (1934). Type: Namibia, Kalkfontein to Gobabis, Dinter 2725 (B!, lecto., SAM, isolecto.)
TALINUM crispatulum [family PORTULACACEAE], [sensu Poelln. in F.R. 35: 18 (1934) pro parte & Wild in F.Z. 1: 372, t. 71a (1961), as “ crispatulatum ” pro parte, non Dinter]
Information
Perennial herb similar to T. caffrum, tuber flesh reddish-brown; stems prostrate to erect, tough below, up to 40 cm high, sparsely branched. Leaves linear, up to 7 cm long, the margins strongly revolute and meeting at the midrib. Flowers in axillary 1(–3)-flowered cymes; peduncle 0.5–1.5(–4.5) cm long, filiform, often with 2(–3) pairs of bracts; pedicel slender, thickened only below the flower. Sepals 3–5 mm long; petals yellow stamens 8–14. Capsule 5–6.5(–7.5) mm high; seeds comma-shaped, strongly laterally compressed, 1.8–2 mm in diameter, minutely pitted, smooth, the testa cells narrowly oblong.
Range
DISTR. K 7; T 3, 6 most frequent on Kalahari sand in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, but occasional elsewhere in southern tropical Africa
Altitude range
50–600 m
Distribution
KENYA Kwale District Matuga, 10 Jan. 1983, Robertson 3484! & Kaya Sega, 4°33' S 39°07' E, 20 Feb. 1992, Luke 3066!TANZANIA Handeni District Kwa Mkono, 14 Feb. 1980, Archbold 2688!;TANZANIA Morogoro District E of Morogoro on road to Chalinzu, 7 Jan. 1975, Brummitt & Polhill 13600! & without precise locality, 17 Dec. 1932, Wallace 551!
Notes
T. tenuissimum is well-defined in its centre of distribution in the Kalahari, differing from the other smooth-seeded members of the T. caffrum complex by the combination of linear revolute leaves, filiform peduncles, much smaller flowers with relatively few stamens, and a strongly compressed comma-shaped seed.Herbarium material can be difficult to distinguish from narrower-leaved forms of T. arnotii, when petal size and stamen number are not easily determined in the fugacious flowers.East African specimens, at the northernmost limit of its range, usually have more stamens, plumper, more lenticular seeds and sometimes broader leaves, probably due to introgression from the commoner T. arnotii. T. tenuissimum is sometimes confused with the southern African species T. crispatulum Dinter (see under T. arnotii). T. tenuissimum is easily separated from this by its linear leaves with revolute margins, non-papillose stems, and fewer stamens.

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