Nidorella pedunculata Oliv.

Compositae, H. Beentje, C. Jeffrey & D.J.N. Hind. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2005

Morphology General Habit

Perennial (or annual?) herb with several stems from a woody rhizome, 15–45 cm high, occasionally with some stems decumbent and sending up vertical branches; stems cylindrical, silvery arachnoid-pubescent, often clothed in rather dense marcescent leaves proximally.

Morphology Leaves

Leaves sessile, (narrowly) lanceolate, 2–5.5 cm long, 0.2–1 cm wide, base slightly auriculate, margins entire, apex acute and mucronate, green above with some remanants of arachnoid pubescence, densely silvery arachnoid-pubescent beneath.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum

Capitula bright or lemon yellow, 5–7 mm long, 3–6 together in dense globose or subglobose cymes, these terminal, solitary or very few together on 3–22 cm long almost leafless peduncles; stalks of individual capitula 1–4 mm long; phyllaries ± 26, the outermost smallest, narrowly lanceolate, 3–6 mm long, 0.7–1 mm wide, apex acute to attenuate, green with purplish tips and with a white arachnoid pubescence, densest on the outermost phyllaries; receptacle convex to almost globose, slightly toothed.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets

Marginal florets in several series, 40–50, tube 2.2–3.5 mm long, ray 1.5–3 mm long, ± 0.3 mm wide, obtuse or with a tiny notch, erect or spreading, style 4–4.7 mm long; central florets 15–20, tube 3.5–4 mm long, sparsely pilose, lobes 0.5–0.8 mm long, glandular; anthers 1.8–1.9 mm long with a small triangular appendage; style 4.5–4.6 mm long with narrow almost linear papillose branches.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Achenes cylindrical or slightly flattened ellipsoid, 1–1.7 mm long, pubescent; pappus of many white setae 4–4.7 mm long.

Habitat

Grassland, bushed grassland, scattered tree grassland, often in rocky sites; may be locally dominant on clay-rich loam; 1050–1950 m

Distribution

K3 K4 K6 T1 T2 U1