Trichodesma africanum
| Family: | Boraginaceae |
| Full name: | Trichodesma africanum (L.) Lehm. |
| Location: | Farm Urikos (2415AC) |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | - |
| English common name(s): | African barbbell |
| Synonym(s): | Trichodesma africanum (L.) R.Br. (?) Borago africana L. (1753) Boraginella africana (L.) Kuntze (1891) Borraginoides africana (L.) Hiern (1896) Trichodesma africanum (L.) R.Br. subsp. africanum Borraginoides aculeata Moench (1794) Trichodesma africanum subsp. gracile (Batt. & Trab.) Le Houér. Trichodesma gracile Batt. & Trab. (1912) Trichodesma fruticosa Maire (1949) Trichodesma giganteum Quézel (1957) Friedrichsthalia schimperi Bunge (1843) Trichodesma africanum var. abyssinicum Brand (1921) Trichodesma africanum var. heterotrichum Bornm. & Kneuck. (1916) Trichodesma africanum var. homotrichum Bornm. & Kneuck. (1916) Trichodesma africanum var. subcalcaratum Maire (1949) Borago tristis G.Forst. (1789) |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Erect branched annual 2-3 ft. high, harshly scabrid, with flowers 0.5 in. long white, the throat yellow and with brown spots. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of West Tropical Africa) An annual. Stems erect, branched, up to 3 ft. high, furnished with scattered rigid white bulbous-based hairs. Leaves opposite or alternate, ovate or ovate-oblong, acute, up to 5 by 2.5 in., with scattered white bulbous-based hairs on both surfaces, the uppermost sessile, the rest petioled. Panicle many-flowered, terminal; pedicels up to 6 lin. long, covered (like the outside of the calyx) with stiff white hairs 1 lin. long. Calyx-lobes lanceolate, 3–4 lin. long at flowering time. Corolla scarcely exserted from the calyx, blue; throat yellow with 5 purple spots; lobes rounded, produced into an apiculus 0.75 lin. long. Anthers lanceolate; awn nearly as long as the cells, twisted, hairy outside in the lower part. Style filiform, glabrous. Nutlets 4, ovoid, scabrid, rugulose on the ventral side, margin raised, white and spiny. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical Africa) Stem erect, branched, 1 ft. or more high, furnished with rigid white hairs springing from a discoid base; leaves opposite, ovate-oblong, acute, up to 2.5 by 1 in., bearing hairs like the stem, lower petioled, upper sessile; panicle many-flowered; pedicels up to 6 lin. long, slender, covered (like the outside of the calyx) with stiff white hairs 1 lin. long; calyx-lobes lanceolate, erect, 3–4 lin. long at flowering time; corolla scarcely exserted from the calyx, blue, throat yellow with 5 purple spots; lobes rounded, produced into an apiculus 0.75 lin. long; anthers lanceolate, awn nearly as long as the cells; style filiform, glabrous; nutlets 4, ovoid, scabrid, rugulose on the ventral side, margin raised, white and spiny. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) |
| 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: | 30 Apr 2011 |
| Camera make: | Panasonic |
| Camera model: | DMC-FZ45 |
| Lens aperture: | f/3.6 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/100 s |
| ISO speed: | 80 |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
