Description:

• Annual or perennial herbs, or undershrubs; hairs on stems, leaves, bracts and calyx thin-walled
• Leaves alternate or lower ones opposite, or appearing fasciculate with smaller leaves clustered in axils, entire or toothed
• Flowers sessile, bracteate, in terminal, short or elongate, usually dense, often paniculate spikes
• Bracts adnate to and exceeding calyx, usually imbricate, lowest often leaf-like, ovate to long-lanceolate, usually glabrous
• Calyx spathaceous (no lobes); apex posterior, entire or emarginate, membranous or subhyaline, often 2-veined
• Corolla tubular, very irregular, unilabiate, rarely bilabiate; tube slender, divided in front to or below middle, expanded behind into a flat or concave, 4-lobed limb, bearded or glabrous; lobes equal or sometimes with 2 lateral lobes larger than middle ones, latter sometimes ± connate and longer than former ones, sometimes with fifth, minute lobe in fissure of tube; often with orange patch, sometimes wanting; posterior lobes exterior in bud
• Stamens 4, didynamous, arising ± on margins of fissure below corolla lobes or lower pair deeper in tube; filaments short, linear; anthers synthecate, dorsifixed, oblong or linear; staminodes 0
• Nectary often present at base of ovary on posterior side
• Ovary oblong or elliptical, bilocular; ovules 1 per locule, pendulous; style terete or linear, entire, usually shorter than corolla tube but exserted through slit in tube
• Fruit an oblong to ovoid, rarely round, subterete or compressed capsule, rarely separating spontaneously into 2 distinct, (sometimes 1 aborted) hard-walled cocci at maturity
• Seeds fusiform; testa tough
• x = 7 (1 report)

Nomenclature:

• Hebenstretia L.
  • Linnaeus: 629 (1753)
  • Linnaeus: 277 (1754)
  • Rolfe: 264 (1900)
  • Rolfe: 96 (1901)
  • Merxmüller & Roessler: 2 (1967)
  • Roessler: 1, figs 1-47 (1979)
  • Philcox: 161 (1990)
  • Hilliard: 315 (1990)
  • Hilliard: 1 (1999)
• Formerly often given as Hebenstreitia

Distribution & Notes:

• Global: Species 25, tropical and southern Africa
• Southern Africa: Species 25, widespread but mostly in Western Cape, the species numbers decreasing eastwards and northwards