Shrublets or acaulescent perennials, usually densely leafy
Leaves usually spinous-toothed
Inflorescence terminal, spicate; spikes cylindric or globose; bracts spinous-toothed, sometimes with spines on upper surface, rarely with gland-tipped hairs; bracteoles 2, usually linear
Calyx irregular; lobes 4, adaxial lobes outermost, broadly ovate or elliptic, ribbed; lateral lobes smaller, lanceolate or linear; tube shorter than lobes
Corolla 1-lipped; lobes 5, usually quadrate, with the 2 laterals smallest; tube shorter than lobes, ± cylindric
Androecium: fertile stamens 4, arising in mouth of corolla tube; filaments stout; anthers monothecous; theca oblong, ciliate, muticous; staminodes 0
Pollen prolate, 3-colpate; surface with shallow reticulations
Disc annular
Gynoecium: ovary somewhat ellipsoid, with 1 or 2 ovules in each locule, with 2 large sessile glands at tip; style filiform; style branch 1; ventral lobe flattened
Capsule compressed, ovoid, estipitate, with inelastic placental bases
Seeds elliptic, with long, feathery, hygroscopic hairs over whole surface
Nomenclature:
Acanthopsis Harv.
Harvey: 28 (1842)
Clarke: 33 (1901)
Acanthodium Delile
Delile in part: t. 33 (1813)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 8, southern Africa
Southern Africa: Namibia and mainly arid winter-rainfall areas in South Africa.
DELILE, A.R. 1813. Acanthodium. Flore d'Egypte, explication des planches. Imprimerie impériale, Paris
HARVEY, W.H. 1842. Descriptions of several new genera of South African plants. London Journal of Botany 1
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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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