Berkheya Ehrh.

First published in Neues Mag. Aerzte 6: 303 (1784)
This genus is accepted
The native range of this genus is Tropical & S. Africa.

Descriptions

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

Morphology General Habit
Shrubby or herbaceous, often thistle-like, perennial
Morphology Leaves
Leaves alternate, sometimes decurrent and stems winged, occasionally forming a pseudo-rosette, margins of wings and leaves spiny
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence solitary, racemose or subcorymbose; capitula eradiate or more usually radiate, showy; phyllaries multiseriate, usually spreading, the middle usually the longest, connate at base, ± stiff and variably spiny, spinescent, occasionally unarmed and spinescent; receptacle flat or shallowly domed, pitted, pits with scarious entire, dentate or erose walls sometimes produced into spines or scales
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Ray florets sterile or absent, when present in 1 series, spreading, yellow rarely white, entire with 5–10 veins and up to 5 teeth, ray narrowing into tube in lower part; staminodes usually present; disc florets bisexual, fertile, regular, tubular, enlarged above, normally 5-partite; anthers united, bases sagittate with obtuse to acuminate tails or auricled; styles forked (undivided in sterile florets) with narrow branches rounded at apex; all florets variably hyaline-multicellular-hairy
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes set in pits, obovoid or more often turbinate, clearly or indistinctly ribbed, glabrous to long silky-hairy; pappus persistent, (exserted from pits), forming a usually sub-biseriate, rarely uni- or multi-seriate corona to the achene; pappus scales briefly connate at base, scarious, glabrous to hairy often dentate or erose.
[FTEA]

Compositae, G. V. Pope. Flora Zambesiaca 6:1. 1992

Morphology General Habit
Perennial herbs sometimes suffrutescent with annual stems from woody rootstocks, or subshrubs.
Morphology General Indumentum
Indumentum felted-tomentose on leaf under surfaces, araneose-tomentose elsewhere, consisting of many-celled uniseriate soft hairs with extremely long filiform white apical cells, their bases tending to become rigid and persistent.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves alternate, sometimes crowded on the lower stem, ± spiny, subentire to dentate, pinnatifid or pinnatisect with spinescent teeth, sometimes decurrent on the stem as spiny wings.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum
Capitula heterogamous and radiate or homogamous and discoid, solitary or subcorymbosely arranged.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts Phyllaries
Phyllaries several-seriate, connate at the base, always spiny with spines sometimes slender and bristle-like.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Receptacle
Receptacle with deep alveolae which totally enclose the achenes leaving only the pappus exserted; the alveolae margins entire or irregularly toothed or setose.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Ray-florets uniseriate, neuter, corollas yellow sometimes white, always with staminodes, achenes wanting. Disk-florets hermaphrodite numerous; corollas yellow, infundibuliform, deeply 5-lobed; anther bases sagittate; style branches linear; achenes ± turbinate, ribbed, villous pubescent or glabrous; pappus ± 2-seriate, of numerous short or long scales, sometimes partly connate.
[FZ]

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 Vascular Plants 2024. 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 2024. 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
  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images