Rytigynia pubescens Verdc.

First published in Kew Bull. 42: 168 (1987)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is SW. Tanzania. It is a shrub and grows primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome.

Descriptions

Rubiaceae, B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1976

Morphology General Habit
A stiffly branched shrub 1.8–3 m. tall; bark on old shoots dark grey, often cracked and fissured to reveal a rusty undersurface; young shoots dark purplish, covered with short rusty hairs, thickened at the nodes; leafless older parts of side shoots often with approximate nodes.
Morphology Branches
Branches and leaves often in whorls of 3 on main shoots but leaves paired on side shoots; leaves born on abbreviated shoots or slender side shoots, those on the main stems having fallen off; blades oblong, narrowly ovate-elliptic, ovate or almost round and perhaps not fully developed at flowering time, 1.5–6 cm. long, 0.8–3.5 cm. wide, rounded to acute or shortly acuminate at the apex, rounded to cuneate at the base, ± velvety on both surfaces with yellowish hairs but with an overall greyish look to the foliage; petioles 2 mm. long; stipule-bases 1.5 mm. long, densely brown pilose within and very obvious on older shoots but appendage ± obsolete.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Cymes 1–3-flowered; peduncle ± suppressed or 2–3 mm. long and pedicels 5–6 mm. long, both pubescent; bracts scarcely 1 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx-tube 1.2–1.5 mm. long; limb ± 0.6 mm. long, truncate.
Morphology General Buds
Buds clavate, obtuse, glabrous, limb-part about 1/2 the length of the tube.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla yellowish white or greenish yellow; tube 5 mm. long, hairy inside just below the throat but rest glabrous, glabrous outside; lobes elliptic, 3 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, acute but not appendaged.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
Ovary 3-locular.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Young fruits globose, 7 mm. diameter, the pedicels up to ± 1.3 cm. long.
Habitat
Bushland clumps of Apodytes, Byrsocarpw, Rhus, Erythrina and Parinari in seasonally burnt Hyparrhenia grassland, sometimes on termite mounds; 1830–2135 m.
Distribution
T7 not known elsewhere
[FTEA]

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: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

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