Neurotheca loeselioides subsp. loeselioides
Content
Description
Annual herb, 5-25 cm tall, branched. Branches quadrangular and slightly winged, sometimes purplish. Leaves membranaceous-chartaceous, basal leaves elliptic, gradually becoming smaller and linear towards top of flowering branches, 0.5-2 x 0.02-0.5 cm, apex acute-obtuse, base attenuate; 1(-3)-veined, hardly visible above, slightly prominulous below. Flowering branches looking like racemes, caused by bract-like looking leaves subtending flowers; pedicels 0.2-6 mm long. Calyx sometimes purplish, tubular-campanulate, 4-5.5 mm longincluding ca. 1.5 mm longacuminate calyx lobes, transverse secondary veins in calyx lobes prominent in fruiting stage; corolla pale blue, blue or purplish blue, sometimes white along margin, tubular-campanulate, 5.5-8 mm longincluding 0.6-1.2 mm longacute-obtuse corolla lobes; stamens inserted ca. 4 mm above base of corolla tube: 2 longer ones ca. 3 mm long2 shorter ones ca. 2.2 mm longanthers 0.3-0.4 mm long; ovary oblongoid, 3-3.5 mm long, style 3.2-3.5 mm long, stigma lobes ca. 0.5 mm long. Fruit enclosed in calyx, oblongoid, ca. 3.5 mm long; seeds discoid, ca. 0.3 mm diam.
Distribution
Guianas present, Guyana present, Madagascar present, Southern America: Brazil North (Amapá present, Amazonas present, Pará present, Rondônia present); Brazil West-Central (Mato Grosso present); Venezuela (Venezuela present), Suriname present, tropical Africa present
Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil (Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Mato Grosso) and tropical Africa and Madagascar; 31 collections studied, of which 18 from the Guianas (GU: 7; SU: 11).