Operation Wildflower
  • Home
  • Albums
  • Links
    • Botanical Gardens
    • Other Sites
    • OWF Sites
  • Information
    • About Us
    • Articles
    • Contact Us
    • Disclaimer
    • Glossary
    • Plant Records
      • Aloes
      • Bulbs
      • Climbers
      • Cycads
      • Euphorbias
      • Ferns
      • Grasses
      • Herbs
      • Orchids
      • Parasites
      • Shrubs
      • Succulents
      • Trees
    • Sources of Information
    • Subject Index
Home Home » TYPES » Parasites » Melasma scabrum var. scabrum
Back to Category Overview
Total images in all categories: 12,762
Total number of hits on all images: 8,240,573

Melasma scabrum var. scabrum

Melasma scabrum var. scabrum
Start View full size
[Please activate JavaScript in order to see the slideshow]
Previous Previous
Image 30 of 64  
Next Next
Image 32 of 64  
  • Lacomucinaea lineata
  • Lacomucinaea lineata buds and flowers
  • Lacomucinaea lineata flowers
  • Lacomucinaea lineata fruit
  • Lacomucinaea lineata leaves
  • Lacomucinaea lineata ripe fruit
  • Lacomucinaea lineata stems
  • Lacomucinaea lineata, the witstorm budding
  • Melasma scabrum var. scabrum
  • Moquiniella rubra
  • Moquiniella rubra bud tips turning black
  • Moquiniella rubra buds and flowers
  • Moquiniella rubra flower and thorn tree spines
  • Moquiniella rubra flowers young and old
  • Moquiniella rubra fruit
  • Moquiniella rubra leaves
  • Moquiniella rubra open flower

Image information

Description

Melasma scabrum var. scabrum, the witch’s foxglove, is a hemi-parasitic perennial herb. Melas means black in Greek, referring to plant material turning black when dry. 

The plant grows erect stems to 70 cm, course and sticky to the touch. The roots are saffron-coloured and fibrous. The leaves are opposite, narrowly lanceolate, without stalks and photosynthetic. Leaf surfaces are hairy, leaf margins sometimes toothed.

The flowers grow in a lax raceme. Flowers are pale yellow with a purple throat, growing at branch tips. The corolla is funnel-shaped with five lobes, measuring about 3 cm across. The stamens are hairy, the style exserted. The large, five-lobed calyx becomes balloon-like in the fruit.

The variety is found almost throughout South Africa, apart from the dry north-western region in and around the Northern Cape. The photo was taken in January at Qacha’s Nek.

The habitat is moist grassland, even marshy areas, the plants growing in sandy soil. The variety is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The Melasma genus forms part of the Orobanchaceae or broomrape family. M. scabrum is the only one of the five species of the genus occurring in South Africa. It shows a resemblance to some Harveya plants (Manning, 2009; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; iSpot; JSTOR; http://redlist.sanbi.org).

Hits
721
Photographer
Judd Kirkel
Author
Ivan Latti
 
Back to Category Overview
Powered by JoomGallery