Jamesbrittenia maxii
| Family: | Scrophulariaceae |
| Full name: | Jamesbrittenia maxii (Hiern) Hilliard |
| Location: | East of Rössing mountain (2214BD) |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Stinkmuishondbos |
| English common name(s): | - |
| Synonym(s): | Sutera amplexicaulis auct. - non (Benth.) Hiern p.p.: Hemsley & Skan (1906)-- misapplied name (inv) Sutera maxii Hiern |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | An undershrub, densely or intricately branched below, 0.5–1 ft. high, perennial; stems woody, rather thick, pallid or ashy, glabrous, procumbent or suberect; branchlets numerous, erect or ascending, subterete, more or less densely clothed with soft pallid viscid pubescence, rigid, leafy, mostly opposite and decussate, sometimes subfasciculate, the upper sometimes alternate; internodes mostly about equalling or somewhat exceeding the leaves or the uppermost shorter; leaves ovate-oval, obtuse or rounded, nearly rounded or subcordate at the sessile or subsessile base, rather thickly membranous, viscid-pubescent or puberulous, entire or somewhat dentate, 0.333– 0.667 in. long, 0.2– 0.4 in. broad; flowers in the upper axils, 0.75–1 in. long, forming terminal erect leafy spicate racemes which elongate in fruit; peduncles about 0.125 in. long or less, pubescent; calyx viscid-pubescent, 5-partite; segments linear-oblong, slightly and gradually widened upwards, erect, ciliate, obtuse, somewhat unequal, about 0.333 in. long in flower, 0.333– 0.4 in. long in fruit; corolla-tube subcylindrical, rather slender, curved and somewhat dilated gibbously towards the apex, glabrous or nearly so; limb spreading; lobes subrotund, entire, about 0.2 in. in diam.; stamens and style included; capsules oblong, obsoletely glandular, 0.333– 0.5 in. long. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) Subshrub, up to 1 m high, mostly cushion-forming. Stems several from base, much-branched; older stems gnarled and woody, new growth often developing below old inflorescences; young stems delicate and glandular-hairy. Leaves opposite, almost sessile, soft, broadly ovate, densely glandular-hairy on both surfaces, foetid-smelling when crushed; base heart-shaped, clasping; margin entire or slightly toothed. Inflorescence of solitary flowers in upper leaf axils, elsewhere forming lax to crowded spray-like clusters. Flowers white to creamy yellow, with dark violet streaks at lobe bases, throat yellow. Flowering all year. The overall range of this species is from southern Angola through the western part of Namibia and across the Orange River into the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. To complement this extensive distribution, the habitat preferences of this species include sandy riverbeds, dry watercourses, sandy pockets amongst rocks, gravel plains, bases of sand dunes, and along roadsides. Hybridisation between this species and the closely related J. sessilifolia is o distinct possibility. The latter species is less common, and is confined to southernmost Namibia from around Kuibis south to the Orange River. (from Wildflowers of the southern Namib by Coleen Mannheimer et al) Jamesbrittenia maxii is characterized by its shrubby habit, broad sessile or nearly sessile leaves that are nearly always opposite right to the tips of the flowering branches, relatively broad calyx lobes and its small white (or sometimes creamy or yellow) corolla limb. The plants may or may not blacken on drying. The pedicels are usually short (up to c. 6 mm), but one of the syntypes (Schlechter 11430, the sheet in S) has pedicels up to 18 mm long; not traced precisely, but somewhere between Steinkopf and Goodhouse in Namaqualand (2918AC). Otherwise, plants with long pedicels have been seen only from the gorge of the Kuiseb river and its environs (2315BD, CA, DB, DD; 2314BB, DB; 2215 AB); plants with short pedicels also occur in the area. The corolla tube is usually at least 18 mm long, but it can be as short as 8 mm. (from http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000355154 / Vollesen, KB. 2013. 126. Acanthaceae (Part 1). Fl. Zambes. 8(5): 1 - 184. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London) Shrublet, 150 mm-1 m tall, sometimes broader than tall, several-stemmed from base, well-branched above, often with new growth developing below old inflorescences, main stems up to 12 mm diam., young parts glandular-pubescent, hairs up to 1-2 mm long, very delicate. Leaves opposite, very rarely becoming alternate at extreme tips of inflorescences, 7-28 x 4-16 mm (ratio 1.1-2.1:1), mostly broadly ovate to ovate-elliptic, lowermost sometimes elliptic, obtuse to subacute or acute, base cordate to rounded and clasping in most leaves, tapered to a petiolar part 1-2 mm long in lower leaves, margins entire or with up to 4 pairs of teeth, both surfaces densely glandular-pubescent, hairs up to 0.8-2 mm long. Flowers solitary in upper leaf axils forming lax to crowded racemose inflorescences up to c. 250 mm long but often much shorter. Pedicels up to 2-6(-18) mm long. Calyx tube 0.1-0.2 mm long, lobes 5.5-13 x 1.1-2.1 mm, subspathulate, ± obtuse, glandular-pubescent, hairs up to 1-2 mm long. Corolla tube (8-)10-25 x 2.5-3 mm in mouth, cylindric, abruptly expanded at apex, limb nearly regular, (5-)7-14 mm across lateral lobes, posticous lobes (1.3-)3-6 x (1.3-)3-6 mm, anticous lobes (1.7-)3-5 x (1.2-)3-6 mm, suborbicular, minutely glandular to glabrous outside, very minutely glandular around mouth on upper surface of limb, well bearded inside with clavate hairs c. 0.2-0.4 mm long where they extend onto extreme base of anticous lip, lobes white or occasionally creamy-white, dark violet streaks at base of each lobe, throat yellow. Stamens: posticous filaments 1.4-2.8 mm long, posticous anthers 1.2-1.8 mm, anticous filaments 0.4-1 mm, anthers 1-1.3 mm, all filaments puberulous. Stigma 0.3-1 mm long. Style (5-)10-20 mm. Ovary 2-3 x 1.2-1.5 mm. Capsules 6-13 x 3.5-5 mm, glandular-pubescent near apex. Seeds 0.3-0.6 x 0.25-0.3 mm. Flowers can be found in any month. (from http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000355154 / Vollesen, KB. 2013. 126. Acanthaceae (Part 1). Fl. Zambes. 8(5): 1 - 184. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London) |
| 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 |
| Photographer: | M Weigand |
| Date of photograph: | 31 May 2020 |
| Camera make: | Panasonic |
| Camera model: | DMC-FZ1000 |
| Lens aperture: | f/3.1 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/4000 s |
| ISO speed: | 125 |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
