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

Gentianaceae - Swertia L.

Description :

  • Annual or perennial herbs
  • Leaves opposite, sessile, cauline and basal; basal leaves often narrowed at base into a petiole and often disappearing early or undeveloped; cauline leaves usually distant
  • Flowers in terminal cymes
  • Calyx 4- or 5-lobed, divided almost to base
  • Corolla 4- or 5-lobed, divided almost to base, white, blue, or yellow
  • Stamens 4 or 5, arising in sinuses, shorter than corolla lobes; anthers small
  • Ovary 1-locular, oblong in outline; style short or none; stigma 2-lobed
  • Capsule 2-valved, splitting septicidally
  • x = 13 (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) (polyploidy, B-chromosomes)

Nomenclature:

  • Swertia L.
    • Linnaeus: 226 (1753)
    • Hill & Prain: 1118 (1909)
    • Marais & Verdoorn: 240 (1963)
    • Paiva & Nogueira: 26 (1990)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species ± 100, Europe and America
  • Southern Africa : Species 1: Swertia welwitschii Engl. (= S. stellarioides (Welw.) Ficalho); Northern Province, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho

References:

  • HILL, A.W. & PRAIN, D. 1909. Gentianeae . Flora capensis 4, 1
  • LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum . Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
  • MARAIS, W. & VERDOORN, I.C. 1963. Gentianaceae . Flora of southern Africa 26
  • PAIVA, J.A.R. & NOGUEIRA, I. 1990. Gentianaceae . Flora zambesiaca 7,4