Description:

• Perennial or annual herbs of various habits, with fibrous or tuberous roots
• Leaves distichous or spirally arranged, blade petiolate or sessile
• Inflorescence a thyrse (sometimes reduced to a single cyme), terminal or terminal and axillary, rarely all axillary; bracteoles persistent, usually cup-shaped and perfoliate
• Flowers bisexual, bisexual and staminate, or bisexual, staminate and pistillate, all types produced in same inflorescence, irregular, pedicelled
• Sepals 3, free, ± equal, sepaline, predominantly green
• Petals 3, free, petaloid, upper 2 (paired petals) clawed, lower one (medial petal) usually reduced and discolorous (rarely subequal and concolorous, but then different in form), deliquescent
• Stamens 3, on lower side, medial one different in form and size from lateral ones; filaments all glabrous or laterals sparsely to densely bearded
• Staminodes 3, on upper side; filaments glabrous; antherodes bilobed
• Ovary 2- or 3-locular, dorsal locule suppressed or 1-ovulate, ventral locules each with 1-6 uniseriate ovules; style simple; stigma capitate or not enlarged
• Fruit a capsule, usually dehiscent and 2-valved (rarely ± indehiscent), dorsal locule suppressed or 1-seeded, ventral locules each 1-6-seeded
• Seeds with a linear hilum and lateral embryotega
• x = 10, 13 (14, 16, 29)

Nomenclature:

• Aneilema R.Br.
  • Brown: 270 (1810)
  • Clarke: 12 (1897)
  • Clarke: 62 (1901)
  • Morton: 431 (1966)
  • Schreiber: 2 (1967)
  • Obermeyer & Faden: 36 (1985)
  • Faden: 1 (1991)

Distribution & Notes:

• Global: Species ± 62, mainly tropical Africa
• Southern Africa: Species 11, mainly in tropical and eastern regions: Namibia, Botswana, northern provinces of South Africa, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal and into Eastern Cape