Justicia divaricata
| Family: | Acanthaceae |
| Full name: | Justicia divaricata Licht. ex Roem. & Schult. |
| Location: | Farm Urikos (2416AC) |
| ID status: | ID not 100% certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Wildelusern, Wilde luserntongetjies, Maklikbreek |
| English common name(s): | Wild lucerne, Branched monechma |
| Synonym(s): | Monechma divaricatum (Nees) C.B. Clarke Adhatoda divaricata Nees (1847) |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Flowers solitary, axillary, calyx lobes 4, corolla small, ±5 mm in diameter, upper lobe very small white, three bottom lobes purple, centre white with tiny black lines. An undershrub, attaining 2 ft. in height (at least); branches terete, not striate, minutely hairy, many internodes 1–2.5 in. long; leaves 0.5– 0.666 by 0.125– 0.167 in., linear-obovate, pubescent, long-tapering to the base, tip obtuse, recurved, with a minute mucro; flowers scattered, axillary, few, mostly towards the ends of the branches; bracteoles 2, 0.25 in. long, linear; calyx 0.25 in. long, deeply 4-fid; lobes linear, glandular-pubescent, very white on the margins; corolla 0.5 in. long, rose-coloured (Bolus); one anther-cell much lower than the other, tailed; pollen ellipsoid with 2 stopples and 2 rows of small tubercles on either side of each stopple; ovary glabrous; style thinly hairy; capsule nearly 0.5 in. long, 2-seeded; seeds smooth, blotched. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) Long- or short-lived perennial shrub or suffrutex, semiprostrate to more or less erect, up to 1 m high. Branches often at a wide angle to main stem, hairy and/or glandular. Leaves pseudopetiolate, variously hairy to subglabrous, linear-oblanceolate, elliptic-oblong, obovate or obtriangular, apex acute, obtuse or emarginate, young leaves often folded, with recurved apices, base cuneate or gradually tapering, midrib prominent, at least on lower surface, texture soft and thin; pseudopetiole up to 15 mm long. Flowers solitary, more or less subsessile. Bracteoles ciliate, hairy or glandular-hairy, ±6 mm long. Calyx lobes 4, variously hairy, 4-6 mm long, lengthening in fruit, with median green stripe and whitish margins. Corolla 10-13 mm long, purple, mauve or white, often bicoloured, with dark veining on lower lip. Capsule 6-8 mm long. Seeds round, plump, flattened on one side, 2-3 mm in diameter, pale to dark brown with darker blotches. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Southern Africa) Somewhat straggling to erect, much-branched perennial herb with stems up to 1 m long. Leaves subsessile, linear to lanceolate or oblanceolate, 1.5-2 cm long, decurrent to the stem at the base. Flowers solitary in the axils of leaf-like bracts, sometimes clustered together at the tips of branches. Corolla pave mauve to purple, rarely white, with darker lines on the lower lip, 7-13 mm long, finely velvety. Capsule 5.5-11 mm long, sparsely hairy, sometimes only towards the apex. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website) |
| 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: | AA Dreyer |
| Date of photograph: | 26 Jun 2011 |
| Camera make: | Panasonic |
| Camera model: | DMC-FZ45 |
| Lens aperture: | f/5.6 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/320 s |
| ISO speed: | 80 |
| Content last updated: | 17 Apr 2024 |
