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  1. Family: Orobanchaceae Vent.

    1. Striga Lour.

        2. This genus is accepted, and is native to Asia-Tropical, Africa, Australasia and Asia-Temperate..

    [FTEA]

    Scrophulariaceae, S.A. Ghazanfar, F.N. Hepper & D. Philcox. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2008

    Habit
    Annual, rarely perennial herbs, semi-parasitic on roots, hirsute or scabrous, often turning black on drying
    Roots
    Root system greatly condensed, adventitious roots arising from subterranean scales, these fine roots terminated by small (1–2 mm diameter) haustoria, in some species a large (to 5 cm) primary haustorium present.
    Stem
    Stems stiffly erect, usually ridged
    Leaves
    Leaves opposite or subopposite, sessile or subsessile, reduced to small scales near the base of the stem in most species
    Inflorescences
    Inflorescence a spike, flowers in axils of bracts or in dense heads
    Bracts
    Bracts leaf-like or reduced; bracteoles 2
    Calyx
    Calyx tubular, 5-lobed or with 5 (rarely 4) teeth, in some species intercostal veins present
    Corolla
    Corolla with a narrow tube and expanded 2-lipped limb; tube bent at right angles; upper lobes fused, lower 3 lobes spreading
    Stamens
    Stamens 4, didynamous, inserted in the tube below the mouth; anthers monothecal, basifixed on short filaments
    Gynoecium
    Style usually persistent; stigma bifid
    Nectaries
    Nectary present at base of ovary
    Fruits
    Capsule loculicidal
    Seeds
    Seeds minute (“dust seeds”) with prominent encircling ridges.
    Ecology
    Semi-parasitic on roots of grasses, cereal crops and a wide range of other hosts; several species are serious cereal pests (especially of sorghum) in drier parts of West Africa.
    [FZ]

    Scrophulariaceae, D. Philcox. Flora Zambesiaca 8:2. 1990

    Habit
    Annual, rarely perennial, hirsute or scabrous root-parasitic herbs.
    Roots
    Root system greatly condensed, adventitious roots arising from subterranean scales, these fine roots terminated by small (1–2 mm. in diam.) haustoria, in some species a large (to 5 cm.) primary haustorium present.
    Stem
    Stems stiffly erect, green or grey, usually square in transverse section, of ten ridged.
    Leaves
    Leaves opposite or nearly so, sessile or subsessile, reduced to small scales near the base of the stem in most species.
    Inflorescences
    Inflorescence a spike, flowers in axils of leaves (bracts) or in dense heads.
    Bracteoles
    Bracts leaf-like or reduced, bracteoles 2.
    Calyx
    Calyx tubular, 5-lobed or with 5 (rarely 4) teeth, in some species intracostal veins occur.
    Corolla
    Orifice of tube small, less than 1 mm. in diam. with hairs abundant at orifice. Corolla with a narrow tube and expanded bilabiate limb. Upper lobes fused, erect, lower lobes 3, spreading.
    Stamens
    Stamens 4, didynamous, inserted in the tube below the orifice.
    Anthers
    Anthers unilocular, basifixed on short filaments.
    Pollen
    Pollen sparse, of ten sticky.
    Pistil
    Pistil tubular with numerous minute ovules.
    Style
    Style terete, elongate, stigma bifid.
    Nectaries
    Nectary present at base of ovary.
    Fruits
    Dehiscence loculicidal. Capsule cylindric or subovoid, style usually persistent.
    Seeds
    Embryo small. Seeds minute (“dust seeds”) with prominent encircling ridges. Seedlings achlorophyllous, squamate. Germination hypogeal and cryptocotylar.

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Aldabra, Andaman Is., Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Central African Repu, Chad, China South-Central, China Southeast, Cocos (Keeling) Is., Congo, Djibouti, East Himalaya, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Hainan, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Laccadive Is., Laos, Lesotho, Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaya, Mali, Maluku, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Mozambique Channel I, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Oman, Philippines, Queensland, Rodrigues, Rwanda, Réunion, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Socotra, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sumatera, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Western Australia, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

    Introduced into:

    Chagos Archipelago, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina

    Striga Lour. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    Aug 26, 2003 Laycock, D. [7463], Indonesia K000183455
    Milne-Redhead, E. [4161], Angola 35210.000
    Collenette, I.S. [6423], Saudi Arabia 51532.000
    Collenette, I.S. [6904], Saudi Arabia 53238.000
    Collenette, I.S. [7761], Saudi Arabia 56125.000
    Ash [518], Ethiopia 71416.000

    First published in Fl. Cochinch.: 22 (1790)

    Accepted by

    • Boudet, G., Lebrun, J.P. & Demange, R. (1986). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Mali: 1-465. Etudes d'Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux.

    Literature

    Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • —F.T.A. 4, 2: 399.
    Flora Zambesiaca
    • Fl. Cochinch.: 22 (1790).
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • F.T.A. 4(4): 399 (1906)
    • Fl. Cochinch.: 22 (1790)

    Sources

    Flora Zambesiaca
    Flora Zambesiaca
    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.

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. 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 2020. 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

    Plants and People Africa
    Common Names from Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com/
    © Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/