Description:
|
Annual or biennial herb or small shrub, 1-2 m high.Stems with long hairs when young, sometimes somewhat sticky glandular towards the top. Leaves broadly ovate-cordate, Up to 20 x 18 cm, much smaller in the upper leaves, becoming hairless above, woolly or stellate, pubescent beneath; margin subentire; petiole more or less as long as the leaf but shorter to almost absent in upper leaves. Flowers in the upper leaf axils together forming narrow terminal head; pedicels less than 3 cm long but up to 6 cm in fruit; articulated in the upper 10 mm. Calyx 10-12 mm long, divided into triangular to ovate lobes about half way down. Petals c. 20 mm long, yellow. Fruit of 9-16 mericarps, stellately spreading, each 11mm long, blackish with a long apical awn, 3-seeded. |
Literature:
|
Exell, A.W. (1961). Malvaceae Flora Zambesiaca 1(2) Pages 494 - 495. (Includes a picture).
Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 60.
|