Justicia thunbergioides (Lindau) Leonard
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Authority
Wasshausen, Dieter C. & Wood, John R. I. 2004. Acanthaceae of Bolivia. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 49: 1-152.
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Family
Acanthaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Justicia thunbergioides (Lindau) Leonard, Contrib. in Sci. Los Angeles County Mus. No. 32:10. 1959. - Beloperone thunbergioides Lindau, Bull. Herb. Boiss., ser. II, 5:372. 1905. Type: Brazil, Mato Grosso, Malme 3026 (holotype B, destroyed; F photo 8949; isotype S). Chaetochlamys tucumanensis Lillo, Lilioa 1:66, lam. 7 & 8(2). 1937. nom nerd. Justicia hike (Lotti) C. Ezcurra, in Cabrera, F1 Prov. Jujuy (Rep. Argentina) 9:349. 1993. - Chaetochlamiys lilloi Lotti, Publ. Especial Inst. Lillo : 63, fig. 1 & lam. 1, 1976. TYPE: Argentina, Salta, Capital, Lillo 8087C (holotype LIL).
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Description
Description - Shrublet 0.3-1.5 m tall, stems ascending, terete, puberulous, base leggy, sometimes woody; leaves petiolate, blades ovate. 5-11 x 2.5-7 cm, both surfaces shortly and minutely tomentose or subglabrous, apically acuminate, basally rotundate and somewhat contracted-decurrent; inflorescence of 1-2 axillary and terminal flowers, these pedunculate, peduncles 5-15 mm, puberulous; bracts ovate or, more rarely, lanceolate, enclosing calyx tube, 15-30 x 12-22 mm, minutely tomentose or subglabrous, green, leaflike; bracteoles lanceolate, 10 x 1.5 mm, puberulous; calyx 5-lobed, lobes lanceolate, 1 mm, puberulous; corolla rose-violet or pink with light-colored markings on lower lip, 25-40 mm long, pilose without, tube subcylindrical, 16-20 mm long, 3-5 mm. in diam., upper lip 13-15 x 3-4 mm, apically shortly bibbed, lower lip 17-20 mm long, lateral lobes 11 x 7 mm, middle lobe 12 x 8 mm; anther thecae unequally inserted or superposed; capsule 15-20 x 5-7 x 4 mm, stipe 7.5-10 mm long, glabrate; seeds 4, elliptical, 3.5 mm. in diam., 2 mm. thick, brown. A very variable plant with the indumentum varying from glabrous to subtomentose and the bracts from lanceolate to ovate. In the most common lowland form the flowers are enclosed in a distinct bract pair, so resembling the inflorescence of Dicliptera. This kind of inflorescence intergrades with one in which the flowers are clearly borne in the axils of the upper leaves. Forms of this kind are most common at higher altitudes near Sucre and Zudanez. However, both types of inflorescence are sometimes seen on the same plant.
Phenology - It flowers from January to April during the rains.