Striga gracillima
| Striga gracillima | ||||||||||||
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| Striga gracillima | ||||||||||||
| Melch. |
Striga gracillima is a plant type from the genus Striga in the family of broomrape plants (Orobanchaceae).
description
Striga gracillima is a 25 to 55 cm tall, parasitic , annual plant . It grows slender and usually does not branch, is densely scaly and stiff-haired with close-fitting hair. The stem is indistinctly rectangular. The leaves have a size of 18 to 45 × 2 to 5 mm, they are narrowly elliptical, entire and have an indistinct veining. They are opposite and longer than the internodes .
The flowers are alternate on short pedicels in a cone-shaped inflorescence . In the lower area the flowers are axillary on the bracts , above the middle they overlap like roof tiles. The flowers are each accompanied by two bracts , these are 10 to 25 × 2 mm long in the lower area, similar to foliage and longer than the calyx , in the upper area the bracts are lanceolate and are as long or longer than the calyx. The inflorescence is shorter than the vegetative shoot.
The calyx has five ribs and a length of 5 to 7 mm. The calyx tube is 3 to 4 (rarely up to 5) mm long. It is covered with five unevenly shaped, triangular, 1 to 2 mm long calyx lobes, the adaxial calyx lobes is reduced to about 1 mm. The crown is colored purple. The corolla tube is 6 to 8 mm long, curved, enlarged at the level of the calyx teeth and densely haired, but without glandular hairs. The lobes of the lower lip are 1 to 3 × 1 to 1.5 mm in size, they are protruding and vice versa ovoid. The upper lip is 4 × 5 mm in size, inverted ovate, notched and about as long as it is wide.
Occurrence
The species occurs in Malawi , Tanzania and Zambia .
literature
- Kamal I. Mohamed, Lytton John Musselman and Charles R. Riches: The Genus Striga (Scrophulariaceae) in Africa . In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden , Volume 88, Number 1, Winter 2001. Pages 60-103.