Leaves spirally arranged or distichous, blade sessile
Inflorescence terminal, or terminal and axillary thyrses or axillary fascicles; bracteoles persistent or soon falling
Flowers bisexual and male, regular or slightly irregular; pedicellate
Sepals free, ± equal, sepaline
Petals free, not clawed, blue, purple or white (rarely yellow)
Stamens 2 or 3, fertile, antesepalous, sometimes one staminodal; filaments bearded or glabrous
Staminodes (0-)3(4), antepetalous (when 4, one antesepalous), filaments bearded or glabrous
Ovary 3-locular; ovules one to many per locule
Fruit a 3-valved capsule, 3-locular
Seeds uniseriate or biseriate; hilum punctiform to linear; embryotega lateral to dorsal
x = 10 (6, 8)
Nomenclature:
Murdannia Royle
Royle: 403, t. 95, fig. 3 (1839)
Brenan: 179 (1952)
Schreiber: 11 (1967)
Obermeyer & Faden: 47 (1985)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 50, pantropical and warm temperate, with greatest diversity in tropical Asia
Southern Africa: Species 1: Murdannia simplex (Vahl) Brenan, Namibia (Caprivi), N Botswana, Mpumalanga, Swaziland and KwaZulu-Natal
References:
BRENAN, J.P.M. 1952. Notes on African Commelinaceae. Kew Bulletin 7
OBERMEYER, A.A. & FADEN, R.B. 1985. Commelinaceae. Flora of southern Africa 4
ROYLE, J.F. 1839. Illustrations of the botany of the Himalayan mountains. W.H. Alland & Co., London
SCHREIBER, A. 1967. Prodromus einer Flora von Südwestafrika 157
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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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