Mesosphaerum P. Browne

Description of the genus

Annual or short-lived perennial herbs. Flowers in opposite several-many-flowered cincinnate, pedunculate cymes arranged in spike-like racemes or panicles; bracts leafy below, becoming smaller towards the apex. Calyx ribbed, subequally 5-toothed; the tube somewhat accrescent in fruit. Corolla small, 5-lobed, ± 2-lipped; lowest lobe saccate. Stamens 4, declinate. Fruit a lobed structure that divides into two flattened 'seeds' (mericarps).

Derivation of name: from the Greek: mesos meaning middle and sphaera, a ball or sphere, possibly referring to the fruit.

Worldwide: 24 species in tropical and subtropical America.

Zimbabwe: 2 taxa.

Mesosphaerum pectinatum

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
pectinatum (L.) KuntzeN,C,E,SDescription, Image
suaveolens (L.) KuntzeN,C,EDescription, Image

Other sources of information about Mesosphaerum:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Mesosphaerum
Flora of Burundi: Mesosphaerum
Flora of Caprivi: Mesosphaerum
Flora of Malawi: Mesosphaerum
Flora of Mozambique: Mesosphaerum
Flora of Zambia: Mesosphaerum

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Mesosphaerum
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Mesosphaerum
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Mesosphaerum
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Mesosphaerum
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Mesosphaerum
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Mesosphaerum
JSTOR Plant Science: Mesosphaerum
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Mesosphaerum
Plants of the World Online: Mesosphaerum
Tropicos: Mesosphaerum
Wikipedia: Mesosphaerum

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Genus page: Mesosphaerum.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=2583, retrieved 4 December 2024

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