e-Key v3 - Ruttya
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Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.

Acanthaceae - Acanthoideae - Justicieae - Odontoneminae - Ruttya Harv.

Description :

  • Suffrutices or shrubs
  • Leaves petiolate, entire
  • Inflorescence terminal, thyrses; bracts and bracteoles small, linear
  • Calyx regular, glabrous; lobes 5, linear; tube shorter than lobes
  • Corolla 2-lipped, glabrous or nearly so; upper lip emarginate or deeply 2-lobed, rugula indistinct; lower lip 3-lobed; lobes oblong, ± as long as tube; aestivation ascending; tube narrowly campanulate
  • Androecium : fertile stamens 2, arising in mouth of corolla, exserted; filaments broadly linear; anthers monothecous; theca muticous; staminodes 2
  • Pollen spheroidal, 3-colporate, with pseudocolpi; surface reticulate
  • Disc saucer-shaped, unusually large, with a projection perhaps representing a fifth stamen
  • Gynoecium : ovary with 2 ovules in each locule; style terete, exserted, thinly hairy on lower part; style branches 2, equal, very short, broader than long
  • Capsule club-shaped, stipitate, with inelastic placental bases; stalk long
  • Seeds compressed, elliptic, dorsiventral, rimmed; surface smooth

Nomenclature:

  • Ruttya Harv.
    • Harvey: 27 (1842)
    • Clarke: 55 (1901)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species 3, Africa
  • Southern Africa : Species 1: Ruttya ovata Harv., Swaziland and northern and eastern provinces of South Africa

References:

  • CLARKE, C.B. 1901. Acanthaceae . Flora capensis 5,1
  • HARVEY, W.H. 1842. Descriptions of several new genera of South African plants. London Journal of Botany 1