Description:
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Perennial herb up to 10 cm tall. Stems 4-angled and winged along the angles, hairless. Leaves in 2–4 closely spaced pairs at base, forming a rosette, sometimes with a more widely spaced pair above as cauline leaves. Leaves
opposite, sessile, obovate to elliptic, 2 – 7.5 cm long, venation palmate with mostly 3 or 5 main veins from the base, both
leaf surfaces hairless and minutely gland-dotted; margin entire or sometimes shallowly
toothed towards apex. Inflorescence terminal, capitate
and many-flowered; bracts subtending the inflorescence
lanceolate, up to 16 mm long; bracts subtending individual
flowers ranging from foliaceous lanceolate bracts similar
to those that subtend the inflorescence to minute linear
bracts 2 mm long; all bracts green, becoming dark red in fruit. Flowers sessile or shortly pedicellate, pedicels to 1.5 mm long. Calyx 10-14 mm long, hairless, funnelshaped, split to the base, 5 or 6 lobed, lobes unequal, lanceolate, 5 – 10 mm long; margins entire or minutely serrulate. Corolla purple-blue with irregular dark and light markings at base of lower lip, glandular puberulous, 17-18 mm long; tube 8-9 mm long, upper
lip rounded at apex, undivided, lower lip 8-10 mm long, 3-lobed; lobes 3 mm long, central lobe
broadly obovate, 4 mm wide, lateral lobes obovate 2-3 mm wide. Stamens 4. Fruit an ovoid capsule,
5 mm wide, shortly beaked at apex with the persistent style. |
| Literature:
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Osborne, J., Datizua, C., Mucaleque, P. & Fischer, E. (2022). Hartliella txitongensis (Linderniaceae), a new species from Mozambique Kew Bulletin DOI 10.100 Pages 1 - 9. Protologue (Includes a picture).
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