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Family: Asteraceae
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H. Beentje (2006) 3: 511- 514, with supplement from 2019 Plants shrublets, 30-120 cm tall; stems glabrous. Leaves strongly aromatic, elliptic or obovate; petioles 2-8 mm long; blades 0.5-4 cm long, 0.4-3 cm wide, mostly glabrous but with a few glandular hairs near the base, bases cunetate to attenuate, margins spiny-dentate, the teeth gland-tipped, tips obtuse orspiny-dentate, Heads solitary on branchlets forming open, loose, cormbose inflorescences; involucres 4-8 mm tall, phyllaries 2-8 mm long, lanceolate, glabrous, whitish with green midribs, margins membranous and slightly erose to ciliate, tips acute. Flowers 10-15, reddish violet or purple, 7-7.7 mm long. Achenes cylindric, 7.5-8.5 mm long. Iphionopsis rotundifolia grows on sandy plains and Acacia-Commiphora bushland on limestone or in rocky places at 60-1050 m. In 2006, it was known from regions N1-N3, c1, C2, and S2 of the Flora of Somalia. It is used for flavoring tea, as a stomach medicine, and for treating camel sores. ©The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Reproduced with permission. In 2019, Beentje clarified the difference between Iphionopsis rotundifolia and Vernonia mogadoxensis, two species which were being confused. The differences are:
When the plants are not in flower or fruit, I cannot tell them apart. From the bud stage onwards, the phyllary character works well, and always goes together with the other difference. |