Author:
Qjure
Book:
Qjurious
Type:
Info
Chapter:
3-665.62.06
Petalidium coccineum
English: petal-bushes
Genus: 30 species.
Region: Africa, India, Mascarene Islands.
Habitat: sandy flats or stony slopes, drier bush regions; in frost-free, summer rainfall regions; low to medium altitudes.
DD: Lulupus humulus, Gesneria.
Source: Sense provings.
Use: ornamentals.
Botany
Shrub to herbs; perennial; small, scrambling herbs; or large, robust shrubs; grow fast.
Leaves: entire; covered in gland-tipped hairs when young.
Flowers: dilated; tubular; solitary or on short racemes; in leaf axils; white to mauve or red; stamens 4, partially fused with the corolla; style is branched into two unequal parts; calyx is deeply divided into five segments; bracteoles 2, large, ovate to elliptic, subtend and protect the young corolla, persistent, conspicuously veined, or covered by long, villous trichomes; flower profusely. Fruit: small, ellipsoid capsules; explosively release two to four flat seeds (two ovules per ovary cell) when moisture is absorbed by their hygroscopic hairs.