Africa Wild

Usikisiki, Natal Blue Haze Tetraselago natalensis
Order: Lamiales. Family: Scrophulariaceae

© Duke
Ithala Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal

Description
Perennial dwarf shrub, erect, up to 75 cm high, stem single or slightly branched; almost hairless throughout. Leaves spreading, close-set, with axillary leafy short shoots, up to 3 cm long x 3 mm wide, sharp-pointed, sometimes with few or several short sharp teeth. Inflorescence terminal, convex or dome-shaped, compact, many-flowered, up to 10 cm diam. Corolla white, pink or mauve, protruding from calyx, widening upwards.

Distribution
Swaziland and South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga).

Habitat
Rocky wooded grassland.

Wild Sesame Sesamum triphyllum (Wildesesam)
Order: Lamiales. Family: Pedaliaceae

© GavinW & Debbie Wright
Sesamum triphyllum triphyllum in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

© nan
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Description
Erect sparsely branched annual, up to 150 cm tall. Leaves opposite, mostly 3-foliolate, upper leaves often simple. Margins of leaves lightly serrated, leaflets long and narrow, terminal leaflet longest. Extra-floral nectaries (small black glands on the flower stalk) normally single. Flowers are large and trumpet-shaped, solitary in the upper leaf axils, mauve with a darker purple centre. Fruit a more or less oblong capsule, c. 40 × 6 mm, erect with an apical beak 6-8mm long, distinctly bent outwards.

Distribution
Southern Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa (Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West).

Habitat
In grassland and bushveld, often along roadsides and in disturbed places or along roadsides and on sandy soils, common on vegetated Kalahari dunes.

Links: NamibRand Herbarium PDF; Braam Van Wyk: A Photographic Guide to Wild Flowers of South Africa

Mauve Nemesia Nemesia fruticans (Wildeleeubekkie, Maagpynblommetjie)
Order: Lamiales. Family: Scrophulariaceae

© Michael de Nysschen

© Michael de Nysschen

Description
Perennial. It grows up to 600 mm in height. It has many slender erect stems which branch freely, emerging from a woody taproot. Stems have numerous, narrow, serrated leaves which are denser near the base of the stem. The leaves are fresh green and shiny. The stems grow lanky as more and more flowers develop at the tips. The flowers resemble little snapdragon flowers, with two lips and a spur. They are dusty-pink or mauve or even whiter in colour and decorated with bright yellow protuberances in the throat. The mauve nemesia flowers mostly at the beginning of spring (September-October), but the flowering season can extend through summer to autumn. The seeds are produced in flat capsules which are dry and whitish to yellow-brown in colour.

Distribution
South Africa (Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Western Cape).

Habitat
Summer rainfall grassland areas along the higher mountains, it grows mostly in among rocks.

Annual Wild Dagga, Lion’s Ear Leonotis nepetifolia (Eenjarige Wildedagga)
Order: Lamiales. Family: Lamiaceae

© Pumbaa

© Pumbaa
Kruger National Park

Description
Slender erect, annual or short-lived perennial, up to 3 m tall, growing from a small slender taproot. Stem usually single, branching below the inflorescence, with a tuft of white to yellowish hairs at the leafnodes. Leaves are opposite, broadly with serrated margins, except the top pair which are lanceolate with serrated margins; distinct stalk, 50-200 x 40-150 mm. Leaves covered in short hairs and sessile glands, more densely so below. Flowers in dense spherical clusters, grouped at intervals up the stem, tubular, two-lipped, densely covered with dull pale orange hairs, calyx two-lipped, lobes spine-tipped

Distribution
Pantropical and widely distributed in Africa. Not endemic to South Africa (Provincial distribution: Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga).

Habitat
In mixed woodland and bushveld along streambanks and roadsides, disturbed sites and as a weed of cultivation.

Links: A Photographic Guide to Wild Flowers of South Africa. Braam Van Wyk

Yellow Jamesbrittenia Jamesbrittenia canescens
Order: Lamiales. Family: Scrophulariaceae

© nan
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Description
Annual dwarf shrub, erect, strong-scented, 0.15 - 0.75 m tall. Branched from the base; moderately leafy; leaves opposite, upper leaves may be alternate. Yellow flowers. Inflorescence racemose with flowers solitary in axils. Calyx 5-lobed. Fruit a septicidal capsule.

Distribution
Namibia, Botswana and South Africa (Northern Cape).

Habitat
Arid regions, Nama-Karoo.

Blue Joy Dyschoriste rogersii
Order: Laminales. Family: Acanthaceae

© arks

© arks
Kruger National Park, S36

Description
Small, perennial shrublet, up to 50 cm tall, wide-branching, very thinly hairy through-out. The leaves are opposite, wavy, grey-green and ovate, with (almost) entire margins tapering towards the base, c 2 cm long x 8 mm wide. Flowers axillary, solitary or in small clusters, stalk c 3 mm long. Calyx glandular, c 1.2 cm long, five-lobed to about half way, lobes very narrow, finely pointed. Corolla violet, tube c 1.5 cm long, cylindrical at base, gradually widening; lobes five, broadly oblong, c 1.5 cm long. Stamens four, anthers two-chambered. Ovary two-chambered with two ovules in each chamber. Fruit dry, cylindrical. Seeds with water-absorbing hairs.

Distribution
South Africa (Limpopo, Mpumalanga), Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Habitat
Bushveld.

Thunbergia Thunbergia sp.
Order: Laminales. Family: Acanthaceae

© arks

© arks
Kruger National Park, S36

Genus Thunbergia: Herbs, erect, creeping or climbing. Leaves opposite, sometimes cordate or hastate at base. Flowers axillary. Bracts 2, large, elliptic or ovate, enveloping the small calyx. Calyx usually of 10-18 linear teeth, rarely a small saucer-shaped body. Stamens 4, didynamous, 2-thecous; anthers opening by longitudinal slits. Retinacula 0. Ovary 2-locular, with 2 ovules in each loculus. Fruit a spherical beaked capsule. Distinguished by the large bracts, the calyx with its numerous lobes, the method of anther dehiscence and the beaked fruit.

Spurflower Plectranthus sp.
Order: Lamiales. Family: Lamiaceae

© Tina
Mtunzini, KwaZulu-Natal

Description of the genus
Annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs. Stems herbaceous or woody below, sometimes succulent. Inflorescence paniculate, racemose or subspicate, usually terminal. Flowers in whorls, few-flowered cymes or dichasia, occasionally solitary. Bracts small, clearly differentiated from the leaves. Calyx 2-lipped (the upper lip consisting of a large single tooth, the lower lip of 4 lanceolate-triangular or subulate teeth) or subequally 5-toothed. Corolla 2-lipped, tube usually bent and expanded near the base; upper lip usually 4-lobed, shorter than the boat-shaped lower lip. Stamens 4; filaments free or united at base. Stigma shortly 2-lobed. Nutlets smooth.

Plectranthus is the largest South African genus in the mint family (Lamiaceae), with 44 species natural to the region, most of which occur on the eastern side of the country.

Cape Saffron Jamesbrittenia aurantiaca
Order: Lamiales. Family: Scrophulariaceae

© steamtrainfan
Pilanesberg

Description
A small, bushy, aromatic herb arising from a woody rootstock. Shoots and leaves covered in glandular hairs. Leaves finely bipinnately dissected. The plant produces a few erect branches, sparsely covered in opposite, hairy, leaves that are deeply divided into narrow lobes along a straight midrib. Flower colour variable - orange, brownish, red or pink.

Distribution
South Africa (Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West Province), Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana.

Habitat
Summer rainfall grassland.

Tooth Selago Pseudoselago serrata (Blouaarbossie)
Order: Lamiales. Family: Scrophulariaceae

© arks
Along Ou Kaapse Weg, near the entrance to the Silvermine area of TMNP

Description
Pseudoselago serrata is a leafy stout perennial that grows up to a height of 0.9 m and has an erect or sprawling growth habit. Its stems are densely covered with closely overlapping, leathery, hairless, recurved, dark green leaves. The oval leaves' edges/margins are serrated/toothed and grow up to about 25 mm long and 10 mm across. The bright tubular flowers appear between October and February in crowded mauve heads, about 100 mm across. Each head elongates after flowering as the seeds are produced, resembling heads of barley.

Distribution
South African endemic: Western Cape, between Clanwilliam and Knysna.

Habitat
This species can be found in typical fynbos vegetation on mountain slopes generally between 60 and 1 200 m above sea level. It thrives in well-drained soils and can tolerate strong winds and high temperatures in summer.