Discopodium penninervium
| Discopodium penninervium | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Discopodium | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Discopodium penninervium | ||||||||||||
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Discopodium penninervium is a species ofthe nightshade family (Solanaceae). It is the only species in the genus Discopodium .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Discopodium penninervium is a 1 to 2 m high shrub or up to 6 m high tree. The leaves are usually (or at least the upper ones) unevenly shaped. The leaf blades are ovate-elliptical or elliptical, the margins entire or curved upwards and wavy. The tips are pointed or sharp-pointed, the base is blunt or almost pointed. The lower leaves are about 14.5 to 21.5 × 7 to 8.5 cm in size, the upper only about (rarely up to 4) 6.5 to 15 × (1.5) 3 to 6 cm. The hair is very diverse and can be cobweb-like to tomentose or hardly exist.
blossoms
The flowers are five to ten in clusters in the axils on 10 to 15 mm long pedicels. The cup-shaped calyx is 3.5 to 4 mm long, almost blunt. The five short calyx teeth are only 1 mm long, they are sharp-pointed or blunt. The greenish-yellow crown is 8 to 10 mm long and bell-shaped to urn-shaped. The five elongated, pointed corolla lobes are about 1 / 1.5 to 1/3 the length of the corolla tube. At first they are straight, and ultimately they are bent back. The upper part of the corolla tube and the corolla lobes are densely covered with short, simple, multicellular, yellowish-brown trichomes.
The five identical stamens do not protrude beyond the crown, the stamens are hairless and fixed in the lower half of the crown. They are longer or as long as the thick, dorsally (on the back) fixed anthers , which are about 2 mm long. The ventral (underneath) surface is covered with a few short trichomes. The connecting tissue between the two theka standing free from one another in the lower 1/3 to 1/4 is thick.
The ovary is hairless, almost conical, the circular nectaries are deep and almost as high as the rest of the ovary. The scar is head-shaped, disc-shaped, indented and thick. The stylus is covered with upwardly directed trichomes.
Fruits and seeds
The fruits are red, spherical, smooth berries with a diameter of 7 mm. The calyx on the fruit is not enlarged. The fruits contain 14 to 20 seeds , which are almost kidney-shaped and strongly indented, their length is about 3 mm. The embryo is curved into a circle, the cotyledons are shorter than the rest of the embryo.
Occurrence
The occurrence of the only species of the genus is limited to the mountain forests of eastern, central and western tropical Africa , where they grow at altitudes between 2,000 and 3,000 m.
literature
- Armando T. Hunziker: The Genera of Solanaceae . ARG Gantner Verlag KG, Ruggell, Liechtenstein 2001. ISBN 3-904144-77-4 .