Annual herbs, often laxly decumbent, hispid or setose
Leaves alternate, usually lanceolate
Flowers in terminal, helicoid, usually ebracteate cymes
Calyx with 5 lanceolate lobes, some lobes sometimes connate; accrescent
Corolla yellow or orange, with a cylindrical tube, naked in throat, lobes 5, swollen at base, short-oblong
Stamens arising in upper part of corolla tube, included; anthers subsessile
Ovary 4-lobed, 4-locular, with a single ovule in each locule; gynobase pyramidal; ovules with a narrow, membranous, marginal rim; style gynobasic, almost as long as corolla tube, filiform; stigma capitate
Fruit of 4 nutlets; nutlets ovoid-trigonous, usually verrucose, attached to receptacle for only part of length; gynobase pyramidal
x = 6, 17 (8, 13, 29) (aneuploids, polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
*Amsinckia Lehm.
Lehmann: 7 (1831)
Candolle: 117 (1846)
Bentham: 851 (1876)
Gürke: 106 (1897)
Brand: 1, 15 (1921)
Chater: 110 (1972)
Al-Shehbaz: 98 (1991)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 15, mainly in Central America
Southern Africa: Species 2: *Amsinckia calycina (Moris) Chater and *A. menziesii (Lehm.) A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr., introduced, Northern, Western and Eastern Cape
References:
AL-SHEHBAZ, I.A. 1991. The genera of Boraginaceae in the southeastern United States. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum, supplementary series 1
BENTHAM, G. 1876. Boragineae. In G. Bentham & J.D. Hooker, Genera plantarum 2. Reeve, London
BRAND, A. 1921. Borraginaceae-Borraginoideae / Cynoglosseae. Das Pflanzenreich 78
CANDOLLE, A.P. DE. 1846. Borragineae. Prodromus 10. Victor Masson, Paris
CHATER, A.O. 1972. Amsinckia. Flora europaea 3
GÜRKE, M. 1897. Borraginaceae. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 4, 3a
LEHMANN, J.G.C. 1831. Delectus seminum quae in horto hamburgensium botanico. Meissner, Hamburg
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
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