Description:
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Perennial herb up to c. 60 cm tall, branching from the base. Stems and branches covered with stiff hairs both appressed and spreading. Leaves ovate, up to 7 × 4 cm, usually with a long drawn-out pointed apex and a distinctly cordate base, covered with more or less stiff appressed hairs on both surfaces; margin regularly serrate; petiole almost a long as the leaf blade, covered with stiff appressed and spreading hairs. Flowers in axillary clusters. Calyx 5-7 mm long, angular, with stiff appressed and spreading hairs, lobed to just beyond the middle; lobes triangular with a bristle-like tip; petals c. 9 mm long, more or less notched, pale yellow to buff, sometimes reddish in the centre. Mericarps 5, c. 2.5 mm long, shortly beaked. |
Literature:
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Exell, A.W. (1961). Malvaceae Flora Zambesiaca 1(2) Pages 476 - 477.
Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 61.
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