Dicliptera Juss., Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 9: 267.1807; Nees in DC., Prodr. 11: 473.1847; Benth. & Hook f., Gen. Pl. 2: 1120. 1876; Boiss., Fl. Or. 4: 526. 1879; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 550.1885; Hu & Daniel, Fl. China 19: 462; Malik & Ghafoor, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p.22.

Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, erect or decumbent, diffuse. Young stems +/- hexagonal. Cystoliths present. Leaves opposite, simple, mostly petiolate, ovate or elliptic, entire or somewhat undulate, acute or acuminate. Flowers of various colours, mostly pink, sessile or subsessile, in axillary or terminal cymes, spikes, panicles or thyrses. Flowers subtended by an involucre of several pairs of bracteoles (= cymule); outermost pair equal or unequal in size, usually concealing inner pair(s), calyx and base of corolla. Calyx usually hyaline, 5-lobed, lobes equal, linear-lanceolate. Corolla mostly pink, resupinate 180° by torsion of the tube; tube slender, dilated upwards; limb 2-lipped: lower lip (in upper position) recurved, shallowly 3-lobed, upper lip (in lower position) erect, entire or emarginate. Stamens 2, inserted on corolla tube, well exserted; anthers bithecous, thecae superposed, glabrous, always muticous; staminodes absent. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary 2-locular, 2 ovules per loculus, placentation axile; style filiform with minute stigma. Capsule ovoid or suborbicular, +/- compressed, subsessile or stipitate, elastically dehiscent, 2-4-seeded; retinacula present. Seeds flat, ovoid or suborbicular, smooth, muricate or glochidiate.

223 species

Dicliptera bupleuroides Nees in N. Wallich, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 3: 111.1832; Nees in DC., Prodr. 11: 485.1847; Collet, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 377. fig. 120.1921 (Reprint 1980); Nair, Fl. Bashahr Himal. 212.1977; Dhaliwal & Sharma, Fl. Kullu Dist. 498.1999; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 484: 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 530. 2006; Hu & Daniel, Fl. China @ eFloras.org 19: 462; Malik & Ghafoor, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 23; D. roxburghiana Anderson, J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 9: 519. 1867; D. roxburghiana Nees var. bupleuroides (Nees) Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4:554.1885.

Annual herbs, up to 50 cm tall. Stems sulcate, pubescent; young branches densely hispid, hairs spreading. Leaves opposite, simple; petiole 5-18 mm, pubescent; leaf blade elliptic-ovate to lanceolate, 2-13 cm x 2-7 cm, glabrous or with 2-celled trichomes or thinly soft pubescent, base cuneate, margin subentire, apex acuminate, secondary veins 4 or 5 on each side of midrib. Inflorescences axillary and subsessile or sometimes terminal and slightly pedunculate many-flowered cymes; peduncle puberulous or glandular pubescent. Bracts lanceolate, 2-5 mm long, pubescent. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, hypogynous, subtended by an involucre of 2-3 pairs of bracteoles (=cymule); outermost pair unequal, green, oblong-lanceolate, 5-8 mm x ca. 1.2 mm, abaxially pubescent, margin entire and ciliate, apex acuminate; inner bracteoles green with hyaline margin, lanceolate, ca. 4-5 mm x 0.7-1 mm, pubescent with ciliate margin. Calyx 5-parted, ca. 3 mm long, pale green, lobes 5, subulate, pubescent. Corolla pink with purple spots, ca. 2 cm long, hairy without, resupinate 180° by torsion of the tube; tube cylindric, twisted; limb 2-lipped: upper lip (lower in position) erect, entire or emarginate; lower lip (upper in position) recurved, shallowly 3-lobed. Stamens 2, inserted on corolla tube, well exserted; filaments ca. 2 mm long, hairy; anthers bithecous, thecae superposed, glabrous, muticous. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary pilose at tip, 2-locular, 2 ovules per loculus, placentation axile; style ca. 3 mm long, glabrous; stigma minutely 2-lobed. Capsule clavate, stipitate, ca. 6 mm long with a beak, puberulous, 4-seeded, retinacula present. Seeds ovate in outline, ca. 2 mm x 2 mm, verrucose..

×

❮ ❯