Subfamily

VII. Subfam. Nepetoideae (Dumort.) Luerss. (1882).

VII. 3. Tribe Ocimeae Dumort. (1829).

VII. 3. D. Subtribe Ociminae (Dumort.) Schmidt in Martius (1858).

Subtribe Moschominae Endlicher (1838).

Description

Subshrubs or herbs, often geoxylic, not aromatic; leaves simple, opposite, ternate or quadrate; inflorescence thyrsoid with cymes sessile, 1-flowered; bracts persistent, not coloured, often inconspicuous; calyx shortly tubular, straight or curving upwards, strongly 2-lipped, 5-lobed (1/4), lobes unequal, posterior rounded, decurrent, curving upwards, lateral lobes deltoid, usually with a prominent shoulder, anterior lobes subulate; throat open, glabrous; corolla strongly two-lipped, 5-lobed (4/1), white or pink, posterior lip ascending, 4-lobed with median lobes exceeding lateral lobes, anterior lip horizontal, concave, corolla-tube straight or slightly curved, parallel-sided, dilating towards throat; stamens 4, posterior pair sterile, held within tube, attached above midpoint of corolla-tube, pubescent, inappendiculate, anterior pair held over anterior lip, attached at corolla throat, glabrous; style capitate-clavate; stigma-lobes equal, rounded, connivent; disc 4-lobed with anterior lobe larger; nutlets ą ovoid, glabrous, mucilaginous. Eight species in tropical Africa, in grassland or woodland.

Distribution

Native to:

23 West-Central Tropical Africa
24 Northeast Tropical Africa
25 East Tropical Africa
26 South Tropical Africa

Publication

Fuerstia T.C.E. Fries, Acta Univ. Lund Nova Ser. Avd. 2, 25, 17: 3 (1929); Taylor, J. Bot. 70: 269-274 (1932), rev.; Paton, Kew Bull. 48: 129-137 (1993), rev.

Image resource

Š Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

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