Aerial, hemiparasitic shrubs up to perhaps 1 m high; stems puberulent to densely pubescent
Leaves
alternate, rarely in small fascicles, oblong-oblanceolate to elliptical, glabrous or pubescent; petioles 2-3 mm long
Flowers
5-merous, solitary, sessile-subsessile, 1 or 2 in axils
Corolla
yellow-green, sometimes with red, gamopetalous, radially symmetrical (without unilateral split); tube expanding upward to at least twice the basal diameter; lobes 2 or 3 times as long as tube
Filaments
arising slightly below midpoint of lobe, distal portion only coiled following anthesis, coiled portion ± twice as wide and thick as proximal, erect portion
Style
filiform; stigma ovoid
Berry
unknown
Nomenclature:
Actinanthella
Balle
Balle: 1625 (1954)
Wiens & Tölken: 34 (1979)
Polhill & Wiens: 99 (1998)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Species 2, endemic to southeastern and southern Africa; without obvious close relatives
Southern Africa
: Species 1:
Actinanthella wyliei
(Sprague) Wiens, found only in the Ngoya Forest Reserve in central KwaZulu-Natal
References:
BALLE, S. 1954. Sur quelques Loranthoidées d'Afrique.
Bulletin des séances de l'Institut Royal Colonial Belge
25
POLHILL, R. & WIENS, D. 1998.
The mistletoes of Africa
. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
WIENS, D. & TÖLKEN, H. 1979.
Loranthaceae
.
Flora of southern Africa
10,1
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