Giant Maize Witchweed

Sparsely branched, erect, annual herb, up to c. 75 cm tall but usually much shorter. Leaves opposite, sessile, lanceolate, 2-4(7) cm long, 3-veined from the base; margin coarsely toothed, recurved, roughly hairy. Flowers in open racemes, opposite or alternate. Bracts leaf-like, up to 2 cm long. Calyx tube 5-9 mm long; lobes lanceolate, as long as the tube, with rough hairs on the veins. Corolla salmon-pink, glandular pubescent; tube c 2 cm long, bent near the top; lower lobes obovate 7-11 mm long, mid lobe longest; upper lobe distinctly emarginate. Capsule oblong, flattened, shorter than the calyx tube, rounded at the apex.

Occasional

Widespread in tropical Africa, South Africa and Madagascar.