White Velvetleaf

The occurrence of this species in Africa and America has been questioned (e.g., by Vollesen, Fl. Ethiopia Eritrea 2(2): 239. 1995) with the African plants assigned to Wissadula rostrata, which has white stem hairs, leaves 3-12 cm wide, and filaments 4-5 mm.

Subshrubs, ca. 1 m tall. Stems densely fawn stellate puberulent, with both stellate and simple hairs. Stipules subulate, ca. 3 mm; petiole 0.3-2 cm, stellate tomentose and with twisted hairs; leaf blade long triangular, ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, 3-7 × 1.5-2.5 cm, abaxially stellate tomentose, adaxially minutely stellate pubescent, base truncate to subcordate, margin entire or shallowly undulate, apex long acuminate to acute. Lower flow-
ers solitary, axillary, upper flowers in lax, terminal panicles to 80 cm. Pedicel 1-2 cm, to 4 cm in fruit, puberulent, articulate near tip. Calyx cup-shaped, ca. 3 mm, lobes ovate to triangular, acute. Corolla pale yellow, ca. 7 mm in diam.; petals obovate, ca. 4 mm. Staminal column glabrous, free filaments many, 1-2 mm. Style short. Pseudocapsule obconic, ca. 1 cm in diam., apically truncate; mericarps with a short mucro, abaxially rounded, subglabrous. Seeds black, ca. 3 mm, single proximal seed densely hairy with simple long hairs, 2 distal seeds stellate hairy or with simple hairs. Fl. Sep-Feb.

Thickets near sea level, dry slopes, roadsides. Hainan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand].

Sida periplocifolia Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 684. 1753; Abutilon periplocifolium (Linnaeus) Sweet; S. periplocifolia var. zeylanica Candolle; Wissadula rostrata (Schumacher & Thonning) J. D. Hooker var. zeylanica Masters; W. zeylanica Medikus, nom. illeg. superfl.

rostrata: beaked

Slender perennial suffrutex, up to 2 m. Stems branching from the base, covered in stellate hairs. Leaves ovate to heart-shaped, dark green above, paler below, covered with stellate hairs, particularly below. Flowers in lax axillary and terminal panicles, yellow. Fruit in 4 segments, obconical, angled.

Frequent

Widespread in tropical Africa, Namibia and Limpopo and Mpumalanga, South Africa