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This genus is accepted, and its native range is Tropical & Subtropical Old World.

[FTEA]

Acanthaceae (part 1), Kaj Vollesen, Flora of Tropical East Africa, 2008

Morphology General Habit
Erect, trailing or twining annual or perennial herbs, or erect or scandent shrubs or woody twiners; cystoliths absent.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves opposite, entire to crenate or dentate; venation pinnate or palmate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers axillary, solitary or paired or in racemes; bracteoles 2, large, hyaline to leathery, connate for 2/3–3/4 dorsally and about 1/4 ventrally (rarely free to base).
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx a subentire to undulate rim or with 10–20 triangular to linear teeth.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla contorted in bud; tube straight or curved, cylindric or campanulate, widening at point of insertion of stamens, with subsessile capitate glands on the inside; limb spreading, subequally 5-lobed.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Stamens 4, didynamous or subequal, inserted at transition from throat to tube, included (rarely exserted); anthers 2-thecous, one or both thecae with a setosely bristled boss or a spur at base (rarely muticous); thecae linear to ovoid, opening by apical slits.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Disc
Disc conspicuous, annular, fleshy.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
Ovary 2-locular with 2 collateral ovules per locule; stigma funnel-shaped or with two large unequal lobes (one erect the other horizontal) or subequally 2-lobed with two erect flattened lobes.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit a 2–4-seeded thick-walled woody capsule, triangular with weakly defined beak or subglobose with sharply defined beak.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seed hemispherical, hollow on the proximal face, smooth to reticulate, tuberculate, lamellate or otherwise sculptured; retinaculae absent.
Distribution
Range: A number of species are widely grown as ornamentals. Range: 100–150 species, mostly in Eastern and Southern Tropical Africa, also from India to SE Asia and Australia, introduced in America.
Note
A number of the indigenous species have at one time or other also been cultivated. Several Indian and SE Asian species have been cultivated as ornamentals but, apart from T. laurifolia, never seem to have become naturalized. They include T. alata, battiscombei, erecta, gibsonii, gregorii, holstii, kirkii, petersiana and vogeliana.

[FSOM]

M. Thulin. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1–4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Distribution
Some 100 species in the Old World tropics.
Morphology General Habit
Herbs with erect to twining stems, shrubs or woody climbers
Morphology Leaves
Leaves opposite, pinnately or palmately veined, without cystoliths
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers solitary in leaf-axils or in racemes; bracteoles 2 large, partially connate, enclosing base of flower
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx cup-shaped, a narrow rim, or with 10–20 unequal linear lobes
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla-tube widening in upper part; limb subequally 5-lobed, spreading
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Stamens 4, included, subequal or 2 long and 2 short; anthers 2-celled, spurred or ornamented at the base
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
Ovary 2-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell; style mostly included; stigma funnel-shaped or unequally 2-lobed
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Capsule broadly triangular and obscurely beaked to subglobose with a sharply differentiated beak, without jaculators
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds broadly elliptic.

Native to:

Andaman Is., Angola, Assam, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Borneo, Botswana, Burundi, Cabinda, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Central African Repu, China South-Central, China Southeast, Congo, Djibouti, East Himalaya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hainan, India, Ivory Coast, Jawa, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaya, Maluku, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Philippines, Queensland, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tibet, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Western Australia, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

Introduced into:

Alabama, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Ascension, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Chad, Colombia, Cook Is., Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Galápagos, Gambia, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Mauritius, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, New Caledonia, Niue, Ogasawara-shoto, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Rodrigues, Réunion, Samoa, Seychelles, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Taiwan, Tonga, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Wallis-Futuna Is., Windward Is.

Thunbergia Retz. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
Milne-Redhead, E. [8506], Tanzania 13102.000
Milne-Redhead, E. [7896], Tanzania 13108.000
Milne-Redhead, E. [7952], Tanzania 4312.000
Milne-Redhead, E. [9043], Tanzania 4313.000
Milne-Redhead, E. [2640], Zambia 4314.000
Greenway, P.J. [8132], Zambia 3648.000
Cruse, A.W. [422], Zambia 13113.000
Cruse, A.W. [408], Zambia 4311.000
Leeuwenberg, A.J.M. [6857], Cameroon K000029036
Etuge, M. [294], Cameroon K000029035

First published in Physiogr. Sälsk. Handl. 1: 163 (1776)

Literature

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • Benoist in Notulae Syst. 11: 144 (1944).
  • Benoist in Notulae Syst. 2: 287 (1912-13)
  • F.T.A. 5: 8
  • Phys. Saellsk. Handl. 1: 163 (1776), nom. cons.

Flora of Somalia

  • Flora Somalia, (2000) Author: by M. Thulin [updated by M. Thulin 2008]

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • Int. J. Plant Sci. 159: 446 (1998), nom. conserv., non Thunbergia Montin (1773)
  • Verh. K. Nederl. Akad. Wetensk., Afd. Natuurk., Sect. 2, Part 50, No. 4: 1 (1955)
  • Notul. Syst. 11: 144 (1944)
  • Notul. Syst. 2: 287 (1912)
  • F.T.A. 5: 8 (1899)
  • Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2: 259 (1894)
  • J.B. 32: 219 (1894)
  • DC., Prodr. 11: 54 (1847)
  • Phys. Saelsk. Handl. 1, 3: 163 (1780)

Art and Illustrations in Digifolia
Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew

Flora of Somalia
Flora of Somalia
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.

Interactive Key to Seed Plants of Malesia and Indo-China
The Malesian Key Group (2010) Interactive Key to Seed Plants of Malesia and Indo-China (Version 2.0, 28 Jul 2010) The Nationaal Herbarium Nederland Leiden and The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Kew Science Photographs
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