Triumfetta pentandra A. Rich. ex Guill. & Perr.

Global description

Triumfetta pentandra is an erect plant with simple leaves, alternate, petiolate and stipulated. The blade is trilobed, with toothed margin. The first tooth of the base bears a purple gland. The flowers are in small axillary glomeruli. They are orange, with sepals and petals free and comprising 5 to 13 stamens. The fruit is indehiscent. It is a spiny ovoid capsule, 4 mm long.

Cotyledons

The cotyledons are orbicular. They are borne by a petiole 5-12 mm long. The blade is 10 to 15 mm in diameter. The top of the lamina is truncated to slightly emarginate and the base is rounded or broadly wedged. The blade is marked by 3 veins. The cotyledons are at the top of a hypocotyl 3 to 5 cm long, finely pubescent and at the base of which the fruit often remains hooked and easily recognizable. The pubescence is composed of simple hairs and stellate hairs.

First leaves

The first leaves are simple and alternate. They are long petiolate and framed by linear stipules. The lamina is rhombic, 2 to 3 cm long and 15 to 30 mm wide. It is marked with 3 veins webbed at the base. The midrib has pennate secondary veins. The margin is toothed. The petiole and both sides of the lamina are pubescent, with a mixture of simple hairs and stellate hairs.

General habit

Triumfetta pentandra is erect. The plant is branched from the base, forming a small shrub. It measures up to 1 m in height.

Underground system

The root is a taproot.

Stem

The stem is cylindrical and solid. It is robust and subwoody at the base. It is covered with a pubescence consisting of simple tuberculate hairs, 2 to 3 mm long and stellate hairs.

Leaf

The leaves are simple and alternate. They are borne by a petiole 2 to 6 cm long. The petiole is pubescent, framed at the base by two linear stipules, 1 cm long and quickly deciduous. The lamina is trilobate, at the top in acute corner and at the base in wide or rounded corner. It is often wider than long, up to 10 cm wide. The margin is toothed. The first tooth, at the base of the limb, is provided on the underside with a purple gland. The lamina is trinervated at the base and marked with numerous pairs of pinnate secondary veins. The upper surface is dotted with simple hairs and has stellate hairs only along the veins. The lower surface is covered with dense stellate hairs, which mask the presence of simple hairs.

Inflorescence

The flowers are grouped in small glomeruli of 2 to 6 flowers, borne by a short peduncle and inserted in the axils of the leaves.

Flower

The flowers are orange-yellow borne by a pedicel of 1 mm. The calyx is composed of 5 free sepals, linear in shape, apiculated apex. They are 3 to 4 mm long and 1 mm wide. They are pubescent. The corolla is composed of 5 open petals with a rounded top and narrow base, 4 mm long. The stamens are 5 to 13, formed of a long net surmounted by a very short globular anther.

Fruit

The fruit is an indehiscent spiny capsule, ovoid. It is 4 mm long. The prickles are 1 mm long, simple and hooked at the top. The tegument of the capsule is pubescent and the prickles are ciliated on the upper face. Each capsule contains 4 seeds.

Seed

The seeds are pear-shaped. They are 2.2 mm long and 1.3 mm wide. The tegument is smooth and orange-brown in color.

https://www.gbif.org/fr/species/7917001