- Family:
- Lamiaceae Martinov
Leonotis (Pers.) R.Br.

[LKGF]
Harley, R.M. et al. (2004). Labiatae, in The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants (K. Kubitzki, ed. in chief) VI: 167-275. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
- Morphology General Habit
- Tall herbs, shrubs or rarely small trees, with simple hairs
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaves simple, usually toothed
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
- Inflorescence thyrsoid, cymes many-flowered, rarely long-pedunculate
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracteoles
- Bracteoles spiny
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
- Flowers large (17-50 mm long)
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Calyx ± zygomorphic to almost 2-lipped, 8-10-lobed, usually spinescent
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Corolla strongly 2-lipped, 4-lobed (1/3), posterior lip long, hooded, bearded and densely pubescent outside, with reddish, orange or cream hairs, anterior lip shorter than posterior, deflexed, soon withering
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
- Stamens not or only shortly exserted from corolla, thecae weakly distinct
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Stigma
- Stigma-lobes strongly unequal, upper lobe minute or apparently absent
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Nutlets oblong-trigonous, obliquely truncate and with sessile glands at apex.
- Note
- 2n = 24, 26, 28. About ten species. Apparently derived from within Leucas (Ryding 1998).
- Ecology
- Mostly hill slopes and rocky or disturbed ground
- Distribution
- Tropical and Southern Africa, L. nepetifolia (L.) R. Br. introduced as a weed elsewhere in the tropics.
[FTEA]
Lamiaceae (Labiatae), A.J. Paton, G. Bramley, O. Ryding, R.M. Polhill, Y.B. Harvey, M. Iwarsson, F. Willis, P.B. Phillipson, K. Balkwill, C.W. Lukhoba, D.F. Otieno, & R.M. Harley. Leonotis, M Iwarsson & YB Harve. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2009
- Morphology General Habit
- Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs to 8 m tall
- Morphology Stem
- Stems quadrangular, occasionally rounded at base, pubescent, nodes thicker than internodes, often with prominent leaf scars
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaves petiolate or occasionally sessile, margins crenate
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
- Inflorescence composed of 1–5 verticils per shoot; verticils dense, spherical to ellipsoid, manyflowered; bracts leaf-like; bracteoles linear, mucronate
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Calyx tubular, 10-veined, 8–10-toothed; teeth triangular, mucronate
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Corolla tubular, 2-lipped, white or faintly pink, covered by red, orange, yellow, buff (or sometimes white) hairs; tube with 1–3 basal rings of hairs within; posterior corolla lip entire, slightly shorter than the tube, curved inwards at apex (hooded), with a fringe of long hairs within at the apex covering the anthers and stigma, occasionally coloured white; anterior lip 3-lobed, considerably shorter than the posterior lip, darker than the rest of the corolla, reflexed to patent, subglabrous, shrivelled or reflexed on corolla tube; median lobe occasionally longer than the outer lobes
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
- Stamens 4, inserted at the mouth of the corolla, didynamous, the lower pair longer; thecae 2, divaricate
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Disc
- Disk ventrally enlarged
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
- Ovary deeply 4-lobed; style gynobasic, not bifid, anterior branch only developed, posterior branch minute or absent; dorsal stigma surface sessile
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Nutlets dark or pale brown, obconic, 3-angled in transverse section, distally truncate, with sessile glands, otherwise glabrous.
- Note
- L. leonurus (L.) R. Br. (from South Africa) and L. nepetifolia are cultivated throughout the world. The shape and colour of the corolla is adapted to pollination by sunbirds.
Native to:
Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Repu, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe
Introduced into:
Alabama, Aldabra, Argentina Northeast, Bahamas, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Cambodia, Canary Is., China South-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, Jamaica, Jawa, Leeward Is., Malaya, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Morocco, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Seychelles, Society Is., Southwest Caribbean, St.Helena, Sumatera, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Vietnam, Windward Is.
- Leonotis decadonta Gürke
- Leonotis goetzei Gürke
- Leonotis grandis Iwarsson & Y.B.Harv.
- Leonotis leonurus (L.) R.Br.
- Leonotis myricifolia Iwarsson & Y.B.Harv.
- Leonotis myrothamnifolia Iwarsson & Y.B.Harv.
- Leonotis nepetifolia (L.) R.Br.
- Leonotis ocymifolia (Burm.f.) Iwarsson
- Leonotis pole-evansii Hutch.
Leonotis (Pers.) R.Br. appears in other Kew resources:
First published in Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland.: 504 (1810)
Accepted by
- Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Iwarsson, M. & Harvey, Y. (2003). Monograph of the genus Leonotis (Pers.) R.Br. (Lamiaceae) Kew Bulletin 58: 597-645.
Literature
Flora of West Tropical Africa
- —F.T.A. 5: 490.
Flora of Tropical East Africa
- K.B. 58: 597–645 (2003)
- Kubitzki, Fam. Gen. Vasc. Pl. 7: 227 (2004)
- Prodr.: 504 (1810)
Lamiaceae Key Genus Fact Sheets
- Harley RM, Atkins S, Budantsev AL, Cantino PD, Conn BJ, Grayer R, Harley MM, de Kok RPJ, Krestovskaja T, Morales R, Paton AJ, Ryding O, and Upson T. 2004. Labiatae, in The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants (K. Kubitzki, ed. in chief) VI: 167-275. Sp
- Hemisodon Raf., Fl. Tellur. 3: 88 (1837).
- Iwarsson, Fl. Southern Africa 28, 4: 31-38 (1985).
- Leonotis (Pers.) R. Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl.: 504 (1810)
- Leonurus Mill., Gard. Dict. Abr. ed. 4 (1754), nom. illeg.
- Phlomis L. sect. Leonotis Pers. (1807).
- Ryding, O. (1998). Phylogeny of the Leucas group (Lamiaceae). Systematic Botany, 235-247.
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Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
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Flora of West Tropical Africa
Flora of West Tropical Africa
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Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. 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
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Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. 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
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Lamiaceae Key Genus Fact Sheets
Nina Davies, Gemma Bramley and Don Kirkup, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0