Annual or perennial, erect herbs, rarely dwarf shrubs or shrubs, usually sparsely branched
Leaves
sessile or petiolate; lamina entire, lobed or digitate, often polymorphic
Flowers
solitary, axillary, shortly pedicellate with extrafloral nectaries (reduced flowers) at base; usually pink
Calyx
much shorter than corolla tube, usually suboblique, persistent or deciduous; segments linear or lanceolate-linear, usually acuminate
Corolla
: tube shortly cylindrical at base, obliquely campanulate above; limb sub-bilabiate, ± oblique; lobes obovate with lowest lobe longest
Stamens
subdidynamous, included; filaments terete, usually glandular-pilose at base; anthers oblong, dorsifixed; thecae parallel, connective gland-tipped; staminodes 0
Nectary
annular, sometimes rudimentary
Ovary
subcylindrical, equally 2-locular, falsely 4-locular with a false, parietal septum almost to apex; ovules many per compartment, in 1 row; placentation axile; style terete, included; stigma of 2 obovate or lanceolate-ovate, membranous lobes
Fruit
a ± erect capsule, cultrate to narrowly oblong or obconical in lateral view, shortly beaked, slightly compressed at right angles to septum, 4-sulcate, loculicidal towards base
Seeds
obovate, sometimes 4-angled, compressed, with acute margins or winged at one or both ends, or with a double, rarely single, membranous fringe; testa subcoriaceous, smooth or rugose and muriculate-foveolate; sometimes oily
x = 13 (8, 9) (high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Sesamum
L.
Linnaeus: 634 (1753)
Linnaeus: 282 (1754)
Stapf: 459 (1904)
Stapf: 550 (1906)
Bruce: 425 (1953a)
Bruce: 16, t. 7 (1953b)
Merxmüller: 1 (1959)
Ihlenfeldt: 43, t. 4 (1967)
Ihlenfeldt & Seidensticker: 5 (1968)
Merxmüller & Schreiber: 9 (1968)
Ihlenfeldt & Grabow-Seidensticker: 53 (1979)
Grabow-Seidensticker: 217 (1988)
Ihlenfeldt: 97 (1988)
Ihlenfeldt: 395 (1994a)
Ihlenfeldt: 1063 (1994b)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Species ± 15, mostly in tropical and subtropical Africa, also Mascarene Islands, S Europe to India and Sri Lanka
Southern Africa
: Species 11 (1 escaped from cultivation), mainly Namibia, also Botswana, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and NW Eastern Cape
BRUCE, E.A. 1953b.
Flora of tropical East Africa
,
Pedaliaceae
GRABOW-SEIDENSTICKER, U. 1988. Der
Sesamum calycinum
- Komplex (
Pedaliaceae
R.Br.).
Mitteilungen aus dem Institut für Allgemeine Botanik Hamburg
22
IHLENFELDT, H.-D. 1967. Über die Abgrenzung und die natürliche Gliederung der
Pedaliaceae
R. Br.
Mitteilungen aus dem Staatsinstitut für Allgemeine Botanik Hamburg
12
IHLENFELDT, H.-D. 1994a. Species concepts in
Sesamum
L. (
Pedaliaceae
). In J.H. Seyani & A.C. Chikuni,
Proceedings of the XIIIth Plenary Meeting of AETFAT, Malawi
1
IHLENFELDT, H.-D. 1994b. Phytogeography of
Pedaliaceae
R.Br. In J.H. Seyani & A.C. Chikuni,
Proceedings of the XIIIth Plenary Meeting of AETFAT, Malawi
2
IHLENFELDT, H.-D. & GRABOW-SEIDENSTICKER, U. 1979. The genus
Sesamum
L. and the origin of the cultivated sesame. In G. Kunkel,
Proceedings of the IXth Plenary Meeting of AETFAT, Las Palmas
IHLENFELDT, H.-D. & SEIDENSTICKER, U. 1968. Bemerkungen zur Taxonomie einiger südwestafrikanischer
Sesamum
-Sippen.
Mitteilungen der Botanischen Staatssammlung München
7
LINNAEUS, C. 1753.
Species plantarum
. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
LINNAEUS, C. 1754.
Genera plantarum
, edn 5. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
MERXMÜLLER, H. 1959. Über die Gattung
Sesamum
L. in Südwestafrika.
Mitteilungen der Botanischen Staatssammlung München
3
MERXMÜLLER, H. & SCHREIBER, A. 1968.
Pedaliaceae
.
Prodromus einer Flora von Südwestafrika
131
STAPF, O. 1904.
Pedalineæ
.
Flora capensis
4,2
STAPF, O. 1906.
Pedalineæ
.
Flora of tropical Africa
4, 2
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