Leaves opposite, sessile or petiolate, simple, margins dentate or pinnatisect
Capitula radiate; solitary, sessile or pedunculate, in leaf axils or forks of branches
Involucre in 2 rows; outer bracts herbaceous, inner enlarging in fruit, indurate, spiny, enveloping cypselas of ray florets
Receptacle conical, paleate
Ray florets 5-8, female fertile; corolla yellow, shortly strap-shaped
Style branches linear, obtuse
Cypselas oblong, smooth, tightly enveloped in one of the involucral bracts
Pappus 0
Disc florets bisexual, functionally male; corolla yellow, usually campanulate with narrow tube, 5-toothed
Anthers with obtuse bases, apical appendage present
Style undivided, somewhat clavate
Ovary of disc florets abortive
x = 10, 11
Nomenclature:
*Acanthospermum Schrank
Schrank: t. 53 (1820)
Candolle: 521 (1836)
Phillips: 812 (1951)
Wild: 5 (1967)
Hilliard: 292 (1977)
Karis & Ryding: 609 (1994)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 6, Central and South America
Southern Africa: Species 3, naturalised, widespread, absent from Northern and Western Cape
References:
SCHRANK, F. VON P. VON. 1820. Plantae rariores horti academici monacensis. München
CANDOLLE, A.P. DE. 1836. Compositae. Prodromus 5. Treuttel & Würtz, Paris
PHILLIPS, E.P. 1951. The genera of South African flowering plants, edn 2. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa No. 25
WILD, H. 1967. The Compositae of the Flora zambesiaca area, 1. Kirkia 6
HILLIARD, O.M. 1977. Compositae in Natal. University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg
KARIS, P.O. & RYDING, O. 1994. Tribes Helenieae and Heliantheae. In K. Bremer, Asteraceae, cladistics and classification. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon
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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.
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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.
