Asteraceae
Sphaeranthus

Sphaeranthus kirkii Oliv. & Hiern

First published in Fl. Trop. Afr. 3: 333 (1877)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Central African Republic, Kenya to Tanzania.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

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

Morphology General Habit
Annual or perennial herb 0.1–0.8 m high, with several branched stems arising from a decumbent base rooting at the nodes; roots long; stems yellow-green, flushed reddish or purplish; branches unwinged or very narrowly winged just below the leaf but not continuous, glabrous or sparsely pilose, sparsely glandular.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves aromatic, lanceolate to linear, 1.5–11 cm long, 0.3–1.6 cm wide, base attenuate and not or shortly decurrent, margin denticulate or serrulate to subentire, apex acute, sparsely puberulous to glabrous, glandular-punctate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Glomerules mauve or purplish, sessile or on stalks of up to 15 mm long, bristly, resembling conifer cones, (narrowly) ovoid, (10–)13–25 mm long, 7–15 mm in diameter; receptacle cylindrical or narrowly ovoid; glomerule bracts green with purple apex or entirely purple, closely overlapping, the proximal larger than the others but not forming a cup, lanceolate to widely ovate, 5–9 mm long, to 5 mm wide, acuminate, the distal violin-shaped, 3.5–6 mm long, to 3.5 mm wide, margins scarious, apex truncate and cuspidate, all bracts glabrous; capitula sessile, with 3 bracts, the laterals folded, 3–5 mm long, scarious with a truncate or cuspidate and ciliate apex.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Florets white with pale mauve tips; outer florets (3–)4, stalked, tube filiform, 1.7–2.6 mm long, glandular, 3-lobed at the apex with the lobes 0.1–0.2 mm long, style 1.8–3.4 mm long, bifid; inner florets 2, the tube widening and abruptly constricted just below the lobes, 1.5–2.4 mm long, rapidly becoming corky, sparsely glandular, lobes 0.3–0.7 mm long, puberulous and glandular; anthers cream, 0.7–2.3 mm long with a brief ovate distal appendage; style white with pale mauve tip, 2.6–4.7 mm long, papillose, entire or very shortly bifid at the apex.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes 0.6–1.6 mm long, ovoid and puberulous in the outer florets, flattened and glabrous in the inner florets, possibly sterile.
[FTEA]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • 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.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0