8955.000 Sphaeranthus L.

Wild, H. (1980) The Compositae of the Flora Zambesiaca area, 12. Inuleae (continued). Kirkia 12(1) 23-113

Description of the genus

Annual or perennial herbs, usually aromatic and glandular. Leaves alternate. Capitula heterogamous, few-flowered, arranged on a receptacle in dense hemispheric, ovoid or spherical clusters, which are terminal on the stems and branches or in the axils of the leaves. Tips of the bracts of the clusters and the bisexual florets usually purple. Subtending bracts of the capitula 2-4(-15), sometimes forming a basal involucre. Bisexual florets in the centre of the capitulum, fewer than the outer female florets. Achenes ± cylindric or ellipsoid. In this genus, the apparent capitulum is in fact a cluster of capitula. Note - a similar purple-flowered species with winged stems usually growing in marshy places is Epaltes gariepina.

Derivation of name: from sphaeros, a globe and antho, a flower, referring to the spherical form of the flower heads.

Worldwide: 38 species in the Old World tropics, extending to Iran and Egypt

Mozambique: 9 taxa.

Sphaeranthus gazaensis

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
africanus L.?
angolensis O. Hoffm.N,Z,T,MSDescription
flexuosus O. Hoffm.NDescription, Image
foliosus Ross-Craig[End]MS
gazaensis Bremek.Z,MS,GI,MDescription, Image
peduncularis DC. subsp. peduncularis MS,GI,M
randii S. Moore var. randii NDescription, Image
suaveolens (Forssk.) DC. var. suaveolens T
ukambensis Vatke & O. Hoffm.NDescription, Image

Other sources of information about Sphaeranthus:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Sphaeranthus
Flora of Caprivi: Sphaeranthus
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Sphaeranthus
Flora of Malawi: Sphaeranthus
Flora of Zambia: Sphaeranthus
Flora of Zimbabwe: Sphaeranthus

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Sphaeranthus
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Sphaeranthus
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Sphaeranthus
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Sphaeranthus
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Sphaeranthus
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Sphaeranthus
JSTOR Plant Science: Sphaeranthus
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Sphaeranthus
Plants of the World Online: Sphaeranthus
Tropicos: Sphaeranthus
Wikipedia: Sphaeranthus

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave 2007-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Mozambique: Genus page: Sphaeranthus.
https://www.mozambiqueflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=1491, retrieved 28 March 2024

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