Guineaflower [for Sigismund Friedrich Hermbstädt, 1760-1833, German botanist]

Kenneth R. Robertson

Herbs or subshrubs, perennial [annual]. Stems erect. Leaves alternate, petiolate; blade linear. Inflorescences terminal, many-flowered spikes. Flowers bisexual; tepals 5, distinct, scarious, usually glabrous; filaments connate basally into tube; anthers 2- or 4-locular; pseudostaminodes 2-lobed, alternating with filaments; ovules 2-several; style persistent, 0.5 mm; stigmas [2-]3, filiform. Utricles cylindric-ovoid, membranous, dehiscence centrally circumscissile. Seeds 2-8, black, flattened.

Species ca. 5 (1 in the flora): introduced; s Africa.

SELECTED REFERENCE

Townsend, C. C. 1982. A new species of African Celosia and a new conspectus of Hermbstaedtia. Kew Bull. 37: 81-90.

Lower Taxon

• Hermbstaedtia odorata (Burchell ex Moquin-Tandon) T. Cooke