Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 9, Part 4, (1996) Author: A. Radcliffe-Smith
Names
Acalypha ciliata Forssk. [family EUPHORBIACEAE], Fl. Aegypt.-Arab.: 162 (1775). —Müller Argoviensis in De Candolle, Prodr. 15, 2: 873 (1866), pro parte excl. syn. —Engler, Pflanzenw. Ost-Afrikas C: 239 (1895), pro parte. —Hutchinson in F.T.A. 6, 1: 901 (1912), pro parte excl. syn. —Engler, Pflanzenw. Afrikas (Veg. Erde 9) 3, 2: 99 (1921), pro parte. —Pax in Engler, Pflanzenr. [IV, fam. 147, xvi] 85: 98 (1924), pro parte excl. syn. —De Wildeman, Pl. Bequaert. 3, 4: 288 (1926). —F.W. Andrews, Fl. Pl. Anglo-Egypt. Sudan 2: 51 (1952), pro parte. —Keay in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 1, 2: 410 (1958), pro parte excl. syn. —P.G. Meyer in Merxmüller, Prodr. Fl. SW. Afrika, fam. 67: 5 (1967). —Agnew, Upl. Kenya Wild Fls.: 215 (1974). —Radcliffe-Smith in F.T.E.A., Euphorb. 1: 197 (1987). Type from Arabia (Yemen Arab Republic).
Information
An erect, slender, unbranched annual herb up to 1.3 m tall.Stems puberulous.Petioles up to 7 cm long.Leaf blades 2–10 × 1–5.5 cm, ovate, elliptic-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, caudate-acuminate at the apex, crenate-serrate, cuneate or rounded at the base, membranous, subglabrous or sparingly pubescent on both surfaces, and more evenly so along the midrib and main nerves beneath, 3–5-nerved from the base; lateral nerves in 4–6 pairs.Stipules 1 mm long, narrowly lanceolate, ciliate.Inflorescences up to 3 cm long, spicate, axillary, often paired, male in the upper half, female in the lower, sometimes terminated by a solitary allomorphic female flower; male bracts minute; female bracts accrescent to up to 6 × 10 mm, transversely ovate, multifid-laciniate, the teeth up to 4 mm long, linear to filiform, separate, erect, ciliate, the bracts as a whole sparingly pubescent or ± glabrous, ribbed, 1-flowered.Male flowers subsessile; buds minute, tetragonal, granular-tuberculate, greenish; anthers yellow.Female flowers sessile; sepals 3, 1 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, ciliate; ovary 0.3 mm in diameter, somewhat 3-lobed, sparingly pubescent above; styles 2 mm long, ± free, laciniate, white.Allomorphic female flowers obovoid, rugulose, with or without a pair of fimbriate whorls near the top, pubescent.Fruits 1.5 × 2.5 mm, 3-lobed, smooth, subglabrous.Seeds 1.3 × 1 mm, ovoid, ± smooth, brown, shiny, with a flattened, elliptic caruncle.
Habitat
Riverine vegetation, thicket and Acacia woodland, also on pan margins in floodplain mopane, and in lakeshore thicket vegetation, growing in alluvial soils and sand at waters edge
Range
tropical Africa, also from Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) eastwards to Ethiopia and Somalia and south to Namibia, but absent from the Congo Basin. India eastwards to Orissa
Altitude range
300–1000 m.
1000
300
Distribution
Mozambique GI Guijá, between Caniçado and Mabalane, fr. 12.v.1948, Torre 7802 (LISC).Mozambique MS near south bank of Save (Sabi) R., fr. 30.vi.1950, Chase 2465 & A (BM; BR; SRGH).Malawi S Koko Bay, fl. & fr. 11.i.1980, Masiye, Tawakali & Salubeni 222 (BR; MAL; MO; SRGH).Zimbabwe S Beitbridge, fr. 25.ii.1961, Wild 5382 (K; MO; PRE; SRGH).Zimbabwe E Hippo Mine, lower Save (Sabi), fl. & fr. 12.iii.1957, Phipps 576 (BR; K; LISC; PRE; SRGH).Zambia S Nega Nega, fr. 27.ii.1963, van Rensburg 1478 (K; SRGH).Zambia C 21 km SSW of Lusaka, Chipongwe Cave, fl. & fr. 26.ii.1995, Bingham 10430 (K).Botswana SE Mahalapye R., fl. & fr. 3.iii.1978, O.J. Hansen 3362 (C; GAB; K; PRE).Mozambique T 36 km Chicoa–Magoé, fr. 17.ii.1970, Torre & Correia 18012 (LISC (partly); SRGH).Malawi N Ngala, north of Chilumba, fr. 14.iv.1976, Pawek 11007 (K; MAL; MO).Zimbabwe N Mensa Pan, fl. 29.i.1958, Drummond 5332 (BR; COI; K; LISC; PRE; SRGH).Zambia B Sesheke, fr. iv.1910, Gairdner 578 (K).Botswana N Mutsoi, fl. & fr. 6.iv.1967, Lambrecht 116 (K; LISC; PRE; SRGH).Caprivi Strip Andara Mission Station, fr. 24.ii.1956, de Winter & Marais 4834 (PRE).
Distribution (external)
Yemen
Pakistan
Sri Lanka