Justicia exigua S. Moore

exigua: small, meagre, poor

Slender annual herb. Stems ascending to erect, up to 40 cm high, often purple-tinged, with opposite lines of short hairs along the length. Leaves opposite, elliptic up to 3.5cm long, ciliate hairy along the margin and often a fringe of longer hairs near the base. Flowers in 3-7-flowered spikes in the upper leaf axils, white with mauve-purple markings in midlobe of the lip. See J. anagalloides and J. anselliana for comparison.

Sudan, Ethiopia, NE DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Limpopo, South Africa.