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31. Letestuella G. Taylor

Letestuella G. Taylor, Bull. Brit, Mus. Nat. Hist. Bot. 1: 57 (1953); C. Cusset, Adansonia II, 20: 199--209 (1980), rev.

Roots ribbon-like, branched; stems arising along margins of root, elongate, branched, up to 6 cm long. Leaves simple and linear or forked with linear segments, up to 4 cm long but usually less, often with stipule-like teeth at base. Spathellas oblong-ovoid, surface rough, becoming campanulate with revolute teeth after rupturing. Flowers erect in spathella, 2 or 3 in irregular clusters, or rarely solitary, subsessile at anthesis; pedicels elongating to ± 1 cm long in fruit; tepals 2, very small, 1 each side of  base of andropodium or filament; stamens (1) 2, when 2 then borne on an andropodium with very short filaments; pollen in monads; ovaries 1-locular. Capsules borne on a 0.4--0.5 mm long gynophore, globose, smooth and shiny, papillate at tip; valves equal and quickly shed; stigmas 2, linear to clavate. One sp., L. tisserantii G. Taylor, western Africa, from Namibia to Niger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subfam. Podostemoideae

Letestuella tisserantii. C Distal part of shoot with spathellas (2.5 mm). D Persistent capsule valve (1 mm)
E Flower (1 mm).

Cook & Rutishauser 2007

 
       
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