- Family:
- Acanthaceae Juss.
Brachystephanus Nees

[FZ]
Flora Zambesiaca Acanthaceae (part 2) by Iain Darbyshire, Kaj Vollesen and Ensermu Kelbessa
- Morphology General Habit
- Perennial herbs or subshrubs, sometimes monocarpic and cyclically mass-flowering (plietesial).
- Morphology Stem
- Stems (sub-)4-angular, often sulcate between angles when young.
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaves evergreen or rarely deciduous, opposite-decussate, pairs equal to anisophyllous, blade margin crenulate to subentire; lower leaves petiolate, uppermost leaves often reduced and subsessile; cystoliths numerous, ± conspicuous.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
- Inflorescences terminal and sometimes also in upper leaf axils; spiciform or paniculate thyrses, cymule branching dichasial or partially monochasial, or cymules reduced to a single flower; bract pairs equal, free; bracteoles paired, as bracts or much-reduced.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Calyx tubular, divided almost to base into 5 linear(-lanceolate) lobes, subequal to unequal in length.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Corolla bilabiate; tube cylindric to campanulate, long to very short; upper lip either subulate or more broadly ovate to elliptic, apex acute, obtuse, apiculate or emarginate; lower lip oblong to elliptic, apex minutely to conspicuously 3-lobed, rugula absent.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
- Stamens 2; filaments attached at or just below mouth of corolla tube, ± long-exserted, glabrous; anthers monothecous, basally muticous.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Staminodes
- Staminodes absent.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Disc
- Disk annular or shallowly cupuliform.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
- Ovary oblong-ellipsoid, glabrous or largely so, bilocular, 2 ovules per locule; style filiform, ± long-exserted, glabrous; stigma either minutely clavate or conspicuously capitate, apex shallowly bilobed.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Capsule stipitate, placental base inelastic.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
- Seeds 4 per capsule, or 2 by abortion, held on retinacula, lenticular, tuberculate.
- Distribution
- A genus of 22 species distributed in tropical Africa and Madagascar.
Native to:
Angola, Burundi, Cabinda, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe
- Brachystephanus africanus S.Moore
- Brachystephanus calostachyus Champl.
- Brachystephanus coeruleus S.Moore
- Brachystephanus congensis Champl.
- Brachystephanus densiflorus E.Figueiredo
- Brachystephanus giganteus Champl.
- Brachystephanus glaberrimus Champl.
- Brachystephanus holstii Lindau
- Brachystephanus jaundensis Lindau
- Brachystephanus kupeensis Champl.
- Brachystephanus laxispicatus I.Darbysh.
- Brachystephanus longiflorus Lindau
- Brachystephanus lyallii Nees
- Brachystephanus mannii C.B.Clarke
- Brachystephanus montifuga (Milne-Redh.) Champl.
- Brachystephanus myrmecophilus Champl.
- Brachystephanus occidentalis Lindau
- Brachystephanus oreacanthus Champl.
- Brachystephanus roseus Champl.
- Brachystephanus schliebenii (Mildbr.) Champl.
- Brachystephanus sudanicus (Friis & Vollesen) Champl.
Brachystephanus Nees appears in other Kew resources:
First published in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 11: 511 (1847)
Accepted by
- Champluvier, D. & Darbyshire, I. (2009). A revision of the genera Brachystephanus and Oreacanthus (Acanthaceae) in tropical Africa Systematics and Geography of Plants 79: 115-192.
- Govaerts, R. (1996). World Checklist of Seed Plants 2(1, 2): 1-492. MIM, Deurne.
Literature
Flora of West Tropical Africa
- —F.T.A. 5: 177.
Flora Zambesiaca
- in De Candolle, Prodr. 11: 511 (1847).
- —Champluvier & Darbyshire in Syst. Geogr. Pl. 79: 115–192 (2009).
- —Figueiredo in Kew Bull. 51: 753–763 (1996).
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Flora Zambesiaca
Flora Zambesiaca
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
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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