Launaea intybacea
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Image 1
Habit
03 May 2008
Image 2
Leaves
03 May 2008
Image 3
Flower buds
03 May 2008
Image 4
Habit
03 May 2008
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Full name: | Launaea intybacea (Jacq.) P.Beauv. |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | - |
| English common name(s): | Wild lettuce, Bitter lettuce, Achicoria azul |
| Synonym(s): | Brachyramphus goraeensis DC. Lactuca goraeensis (Lam.) Sch.Bip. Lactuca goraeensis (Lam.) Sch.Bip. var. effusa A.Terracc. fide Fl. Ethiopia Eritrea 4(2): 61 (2004). Lactuca goraeensis (Lam.) Sch.Bip. var. glomerata A.Terracc. fide Fl. Ethiopia Eritrea 4(2): 61 (2004). Lactuca heyneana DC. Lactuca intybacea Jacq. Lactuca pinnatifida (Lour.) Merr. Lactuca remotiflora DC. Lactuca runcinata DC. Lactuca schimperi Jaub. & Spach Launaea goraeensis (Lam.) O.Hoffm. Launaea kuriensis Vierh. Prenanthes sonchifolia Willd. Scorzonera pinnatifida Lour. Sonchus goraeensis Lam. |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Leaves (5–)10–25+ x 2–6(–12) cm, usually runcinately to sinuately lobed, bases ± auri-culate, ultimate margins spinulo-denticulate, apices acute to acuminate. Involucres 10–15 mm. Cypselae 4–5 mm; pappi 6–9 mm. 2n = 18 (from www.efloras.org website / Flora of North America) Annual or biennial herb, erect, 0.3–2 m high; root system shallow; stems hollow, often purplish near the base, branching in the distal part of the plant, glabrous. Leaves crowded near the base or both basal and cauline, sessile, oblanceolate to broadly elliptic, often pinnatilobed with retrorse lobes, 4–30 cm long, 1.5–14 cm wide, base subauriculate, lobes deltoid, to 3 cm long, margins acicular-dentate, apex obtuse to rounded, glabrous. Capitula many, subsessile in large, lax panicles with long side branches; stalks of individual capitula 2–5 mm; involucre 10–12 mm long, conical-cylindric to spreading; phyllaries green, tinged with brown, ovate (outer) to lanceolate (inner), 1.5–12 mm, the outer extending down the stalk, acute, margins broad and hyaline, glabrous or minutely ciliate at the very apex. Florets 20–26 per capitulum; corolla yellow or pale lemon yellow, the ligule drying purplish?, tube 6–8 mm long, distally pilose, ligule 4.5–5 mm long. Achenes grey-black, subcylindric but slightly flattened, 3–4 mm long, with 4 main ribs and 8 thinner ones, all muricate, the apex narrowed into a beak up to 1 mm long; pappus white, 6–8 mm long, of mixed setae and downy hairs. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical East Africa) An erect glabrous annual herb. Stems up to c. 1(2) m tall, hollow, leafy throughout or leaves ± crowded below, divaricately branched above; branches up to c. 50(65) cm long, ascending. Leaves up to c. 24 x 9.5 cm, decreasing in size towards the stem apex, broadly oblanceolate-elliptic in outline, runcinate or remotely pinnately-lobed, apices obtuse-acute to rounded, margins strongly acicular-denticulate, bases sessile to subauriculate, midrib prominent beneath. Capitula numerous, subsessile to shortly-stalked, singly or in clusters of 2–8 spaced along the branches. Involucres c. 10 x 2.5 mm in flowering capitula, up to c. 12 x 4 mm in fruiting capitula, conical-cylindric at first later spreading. Phyllaries several-seriate, grading into the bracteoles of the capitulum stalk; the outer series imbricate increasing ± uniformly in length from c. 1.5–5 mm, then abruptly to 9–12 mm long in the innermost, broadly ovate-acuminate on the outside and narrowly lanceolate-acute inside, all with a distinct hyaline margin, the midribs becoming swollen and corky towards the base. Florets 20–26 per capitulum; corollas yellow, 11–13 mm long, ligule c. 5 mm long and lorate becoming purplish. Achenes grey-black when ripe, 3–4 mm long, subcylindric-ellipsoid somewhat flattened, constricted above or drawn out into a short distinct apical beak, ± 4-angular with ribs on the angles and 2 secondary ribs between the angles, ribs sharply rugose-muricate; pappus heterogeneous, white, copious, c. 7 mm long, composed of stiff barbellate setae intermixed with numerous filamentous hairs. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Zambesiaca) Polymorphic annual herb, 15–150 cm high; stems erect, either leafy in the lower half or leafless and leaves then in basal rosette. Basal leaves up to 1.5–37 x 0.5–14 cm, obovate to spathulate, obtuse to acute, sinuate-dentate to runcinate, margin denticulate with white stiff teeth; stem leaves smaller, lanceolate, pinnatifid, sagittately auriculate. Synflorescences with many capitula, of few to many spreading-erect flowering axes. Capitula often clustered at the nodes, with 12–35 florets; involucre slender, 9–13 mm long, inner phyllaries 8. Florets pale yellow, ligule 5.5–6 mm long, linear; anthers (appendages excluded) 1.1–1.3 mm long. Achenes 3.2–4.5 mm long, the inner ones with 4 main ribs, greyish, weakly wrinkled, cuspidate to shortly rostrate, the marginal ones with a beak 1/8–1/4 of the achene length and 5 main ribs, sharply wrinkled, black (occasionally all pale); pappus 7–8 mm long, persistent, of outer downy hairs and inner bristles. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Somalia) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
