Leucosphaera bainesii
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record (Click here to see images of this plant from Kyffhäuser)
Image 1
Habit
21 Jun 2018
Image 2
Leaves and flowers
21 Jun 2018
| Family: | Amaranthaceae |
| Full name: | Leucosphaera bainesii (Hook.f.) Gilg |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Wolbos, Perdebossie, Silverbossie |
| English common name(s): | Wool bush |
| Synonym(s): | Leucosphaera pfeilii Gilg Marcellia bainesii (Hook.f.) C.B.Clarke Sericocoma bainesii Hook.f. Sericocomopsis bainesii (Hook.f.) Schinz |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Dwarf shrub, 8–45 cm tall, much-branched and frequently gnarled about the base; branches terete, striate, the older parts glabrescent with a greyish to brownish cortex, the young twigs densely canescent with appressed, whitish hairs. Leaves narrowly or broadly elliptic to lanceolate or ovate, 10–30 (40) x 3–12 (17) cm, subacute to acute (obtuse to retuse occasionally in the inferior leaves), equally densely furnished on both surfaces with appressed whitish hairs or somewnat less so above (glabrescent and darkening with age), cuneate or attenuate at the base with a short (2–5 mm long) petiole. Inflorescence 1.5–2 cm in diam., hemispherical in flower and more or less spherical in fruit, formed of densely set partial inflorescences of 1–2 fertile and 1–2 sterile flowers (very occasionally a triad may be found in the largest plants). Bracts deltoid lanceolate, hyaline, (3)4–5 mm long, densely pilose centrally below and at the apex, shortly aristate with the excurrent darker midrib. Bracteoles of the partial inflorescences (5)7.7.5 mm long, narrowly deltoid-ovate, hyaline, the darker midrib forming a plumose-hairy arista (1)2–3 mm long; bracteoles of the sterile flowers c. (5)7 mm long, densely hairy except at the extreme base, basal half narrowly elliptical or lanceolate, the upper half an arista formed by the excurrent plumose-pilose midrib. Sterile flowers of a few (2–4) narrow, plumose-hairy, linear, bracteoliform processes. Outer 2 tepals of fertile flowers c. (5.5)7–9 mm long, lanceolate, obscurely 3-nerved, the excurrent midrib forming an arista (2)3–4 mm long, margins hyaline below; inner 3 tepals similar, scarcely shorter but more expanded below with broader hyaline margins; aristae of all tepals plumose-hairy. Ovary pyriform, c. 1 mm long, furnished with dense, erect, white hairs except at the extreme base; style slender, c. 3–4 mm long. Stamens (2.5)3.5–4 mm long; filaments slender, abruptly expanded in about the basal one-third and fused into a cup, with acute sinuses between; anthers narrowly oblong, c. 1 mm long. Fruit shortly cylindrical, (1.5)2–2.25 mm long, densely erect-pilose on the firm, flat apex, the delicate walls glabrous; seed brown, c. 2 mm long, shining, feebly reticulate (not perfectly mature). (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Zambesiaca) Much branched, at least 10 in. high, clothed with soft short white simple hair. Leaves opposite, 1 by 0.333 in., narrowly obovate-elliptic. Inflorescences dense, white, ovoid, up to 0.6 by 0.5 in.; partial inflorescences of 2–1 perfect, 4–2 sterile flowers; hairs on the sterile flowers long, with short joints, scabrid and often branched. Staminal tube ending in 5 depressed-ovate lobes, on the summit of each a very minute white filament (resembling PseudoHermbstædtia). Ovary subglobose, hairy. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical Africa) A much-branched undershrub, up to 18 in. high; branches terete, clothed with soft white hairs; leaves obovate-elliptic, 10 lin. long, 3 lin. wide, acute, tapering to the base, densely white silky-tomentose on both surfaces; spikes subglobose, about 6 lin. in diam.; clusters consisting of 1–2 fertile and 2–4 sterile flowers; bracts lanceolate, 3 lin. long, acuminate, scarious, silky outside; bracteole ovate, acuminate, much shorter than the bracts; perianth-segments lanceolate, acuminate, 2 lin. long, silky; staminal cup nearly as long as the hairy ovary; utricle densely hairy. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) Grey shrublet up to 0.3 m high with woody gnarled branches. The young leaves and branches are densely hairy. The leaves are smooth, narrowly oval and 1-2 cm long. The flower heads are woody and spherical. Occurs especially in soils with surface lime. (from www.trc.zootechnie.fr website) Much-branched dwarf shrublet, up to 45 cm high, young parts densely greyish hairy. Leaves narrowly to broadly elliptic, lanceolate or ovate, 1-4 cm long, densely covered in appressed whitish hairs on both surfaces; petiole 2-5 mm long. Inflorescences hemispherical to spherical in fruit, 1.5-2 cm in diameter; bracts and bracteoles ending in plumose aristae. (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 |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
