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. Derivation of name: Named after Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828) Worldwide: 90 species in the Old World tropics Malawi: 12 taxa. Insects associated with this genus:
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Species | FZ divisions | Content |
alata Bojer ex Sims | N,C,S | Description, Image |
crispa Burkill | N,C,S | Description, Image |
graminifolia De Wild. | N | Description |
kirkiana T. Anderson | N,C,S | |
lancifolia T. Anderson | N,C,S | Description, Image |
lathyroides Burkill | N | |
natalensis Hook. | S | Description, Image |
petersiana Lindau | N,C,S | Description, Image |
racemosa Vollesen | N | |
schimbensis S. Moore | N | Description, Image |
subalata Lindau | C,S | |
usambarica Lindau | N,C,S | Description, Image |