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LANKESTERIA Lindl. [family ACANTHACEAE]

Date Updated: 19 August 2007

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
LANKESTERIA Lindl. [family ACANTHACEAE], Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. ii. 1083.
Information
Calyx divided nearly to the base; segments 5, subequal, linear. Corolla (in African species) orange, withering off dull red; tube long, linear, hardly dilated even at the top; lobes 5, subequal, obovate, more or less oblique, contorted in bud. Stamens 2, with 2 small rudiments often added; anther-cells muticous; pollen short, ellipsoid, reticulated; stopples 3. Ovary glabrous or nearly so, covered with discoid glands; ovules 2 or 1 in each cell; style thinly hairy; stigma capitate or short-oblong, more or less 2-lobed. Capsule 2-seeded (where seen), ellipsoid, flattened, base contracted, solid; seeds covered by hygroscopic hair. —Shrubs 1–3 ft. high. Leaves entire. Flowers in subglobose heads, or in long strobilate spikes or panicles; bract long, ovate or linear; bracteole linear, hardly as long as the calyx.
Range
Species 3–4 in Africa, 17 in Asia (Dædalacanthus, T. Anders.).
Notes
This genus is that part of Eranthemum, Linn., separated off generically by R. Brown, and superficially so resembles Eranthemum that it was retained in Eranthemum by Nees. It is distinguished lstly by the contorted corolla-lobes, 2ndly by the reticulated pollen, 3rdly by the hygroscopic hairs on the seeds. Dædalacanthus is said by Bentham to differ from Lankesteria by having included stamens; but in Dædalacanthus splendens, T. Anders., the anthers are exserted 1/2– 3/4 in., very much more exserted than in any Lankesteria. Lindau separates these genera by the pollen, which he says is round in Dædalacanthus, 3-winged in Lankesteria. But in the type species, L. parviflora, the pollen is only slightly trigonous.

Date Updated: 19 August 2007

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
LANKESTERIA Lindl. [family ACANTHACEAE], Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. ii. 1083.
Information
Calyx divided nearly to the base; segments 5, subequal, linear. Corolla (in African species) orange, withering off dull red; tube long, linear, hardly dilated even at the top; lobes 5, subequal, obovate, more or less oblique, contorted in bud. Stamens 2, with 2 small rudiments often added; anther-cells muticous; pollen short, ellipsoid, reticulated; stopples 3. Ovary glabrous or nearly so, covered with discoid glands; ovules 2 or 1 in each cell; style thinly hairy; stigma capitate or short-oblong, more or less 2-lobed. Capsule 2-seeded (where seen), ellipsoid, flattened, base contracted, solid; seeds covered by hygroscopic hair. —Shrubs 1–3 ft. high. Leaves entire. Flowers in subglobose heads, or in long strobilate spikes or panicles; bract long, ovate or linear; bracteole linear, hardly as long as the calyx.
Range
Species 3–4 in Africa, 17 in Asia (Dædalacanthus, T. Anders.).
Notes
This genus is that part of Eranthemum, Linn., separated off generically by R. Brown, and superficially so resembles Eranthemum that it was retained in Eranthemum by Nees. It is distinguished lstly by the contorted corolla-lobes, 2ndly by the reticulated pollen, 3rdly by the hygroscopic hairs on the seeds. Dædalacanthus is said by Bentham to differ from Lankesteria by having included stamens; but in Dædalacanthus splendens, T. Anders., the anthers are exserted 1/2– 3/4 in., very much more exserted than in any Lankesteria. Lindau separates these genera by the pollen, which he says is round in Dædalacanthus, 3-winged in Lankesteria. But in the type species, L. parviflora, the pollen is only slightly trigonous.

Date Updated: 19 August 2007

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
LANKESTERIA Lindl. [family ACANTHACEAE], Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. ii. 1083.
Information
Calyx divided nearly to the base; segments 5, subequal, linear. Corolla (in African species) orange, withering off dull red; tube long, linear, hardly dilated even at the top; lobes 5, subequal, obovate, more or less oblique, contorted in bud. Stamens 2, with 2 small rudiments often added; anther-cells muticous; pollen short, ellipsoid, reticulated; stopples 3. Ovary glabrous or nearly so, covered with discoid glands; ovules 2 or 1 in each cell; style thinly hairy; stigma capitate or short-oblong, more or less 2-lobed. Capsule 2-seeded (where seen), ellipsoid, flattened, base contracted, solid; seeds covered by hygroscopic hair. —Shrubs 1–3 ft. high. Leaves entire. Flowers in subglobose heads, or in long strobilate spikes or panicles; bract long, ovate or linear; bracteole linear, hardly as long as the calyx.
Range
Species 3–4 in Africa, 17 in Asia (Dædalacanthus, T. Anders.).
Notes
This genus is that part of Eranthemum, Linn., separated off generically by R. Brown, and superficially so resembles Eranthemum that it was retained in Eranthemum by Nees. It is distinguished lstly by the contorted corolla-lobes, 2ndly by the reticulated pollen, 3rdly by the hygroscopic hairs on the seeds. Dædalacanthus is said by Bentham to differ from Lankesteria by having included stamens; but in Dædalacanthus splendens, T. Anders., the anthers are exserted 1/2– 3/4 in., very much more exserted than in any Lankesteria. Lindau separates these genera by the pollen, which he says is round in Dædalacanthus, 3-winged in Lankesteria. But in the type species, L. parviflora, the pollen is only slightly trigonous.
LANKESTERIA Lindl. [family ACANTHACEAE]
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