Description:

• Annual herbs; stems papillate, glistening, woolly
• Leaves opposite, decussate, radical or on lower part of flowering branches, blade shorter than petiole, somewhat connate at base, spatulate or lanceolate, obtuse, 3-nerved, with scattered white hairs, margins ciliate with elongated bladder cells
• Flowers 1-3, terminal, principally in dichasia, pedicellate, bracteate, 40-70 mm diameter; open during afternoon, closing up tightly into a twisted tip at night
• Sepals 5, unequal, 2 outer foliaceous, inner ovate with membranous margin
• Petals linear, acute, with ciliate margins, free or nearly so, golden yellow with reddish tinge towards tips, slender
• Stamens and staminodes many
• Nectary a ring with entire rim
• Ovary broader than deep; placentas basal; stigmas 12-18, filiform, acute
• Fruit a 12-18-locular capsule, firm, persistent septa overarching locules from sides; placenta raised by a false basal septum, broader than deep; valves narrow, with a pair of closely contiguous expanding keels ending in awns; locules without covering membranes and with narrow exit for seeds
• Seeds roundish
• x = 9

• Flowering late spring to early summer

• Distinguishing characters:
  • Annual herbs with flat, green leaves
  • Stems hairy
  • Flowers yellow
  • Fruit 12-18-locular with contiguous expanding keels ending in awns

Nomenclature:

• Carpanthea N.E.Br.
  • Brown: 412 (1925)
  • Herre: 100 (1971)
  • Ihlenfeldt & Gerbaulet: 457 (1990)
  • Smith et al.: 62 (1998)
• Macrocaulon N.E.Br.
  • Brown: 12 (1927)

Distribution & Notes:

• Southern Africa: Species 1: Carpanthea pomeridiana (L.) N.E.Br., in the extreme SW parts of Western Cape