Annual or perennial herbs or suffrutices, glabrous or variously hairy
Leaves opposite or rarely whorled, entire to variably incised; stipules 0
Flowers bisexual, irregular, aggregated into heads, surrounded by an involucre, with individual flowers or florets bracteate or in a calyx-like, dry, persistent involucre
Calyx with tube often constricted above ovary; limb cup-shaped, disciform, or divided into 5-20 stellately spreading bristles
Corolla gamopetalous, 4- or 5-lobed, somewhat 2-lipped, usually pilose on outer surface; tube widening gradually from base, usually pilose within; lobes unequal, imbricate, usually oblong, shorter than tube
Stamens 4(5), arising in upper part of corolla tube and alternating with lobes, often exserted; filaments longer than anthers; anthers linear-oblong, versatile, 2-thecous, opening by longitudinal slits
Ovary inferior, 1-locular, with a single, pendulous ovule; style filiform or linear, included or exserted; stigma undivided or with groove on one side, globose, disc-like or oblong
Fruit a dry cypsela, crowned with enlarged, persistent calyx limb and enclosed in cup-like involucre
Nomenclature:
Dipsacaceae
Sonder: 41 (1865)
Heine: 1 (1968)
Cannon & Cannon: 77 (1983)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Genera 11, species 350-400, mostly Mediterranean region, spreading through Europe and Africa to Asia; absent from New World
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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.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
