Code
OLDLA
Growth form
Broadleaf
Biological cycle
Annual / Perennial
Habitat
Marshland
synonym | Hedyotis lancifolia Schumach. |
synonym | Oldenlandia rutshuruensis DeWild. |
Creoles and pidgins; French-based |
|
Global description
Oldenlandia lancifolia is an annual to perennial herbaceous plant of short duration. The stem is erect or spreading, cylindrical, glabrous, bearing simple opposite subsessile leaves, with a narrowly linear blade, wedge-shaped at the base and acuminate at the top. At the base of the leaves is a stipular collar with 2-5 teeth. The flowers are axillary, usually solitary, long-stalked. The calyx is a 4-lobed cup, the corolla is white, forming a tube with 4 lobes on top. The fruit is a globose capsule, wider than long, with a short beak.
General habit
Oldenlandia lancifolia is a very delicate herbaceous plant, from 10 to 70 cm (100 cm) high, spreading or erect, which can form a carpet on the ground. It is often very branched towards the base, with the secondary branches themselves being poorly branched or even simple.
Underground system
The main root is taproot. Adventitious roots may develop at the lower nodes of the stems in contact with the soil.
Stem
The stem is slender, cylindrical or obscurely quadrangular and glabrous.
Leaf
The leaves are simple, opposite, sessile or subsessile with a petiole 0-2 mm long, horizontally spread. At the base of each pair of leaves is a stipular collar forming a small cup topped by 2-5 teeth, 1-3 mm long, longer than the cup. The leaf blade is narrowly elliptic to linear, rarely elliptic, 10-70 mm long and 2-6 (12) mm wide. It is uninervate. The apex is acuminate and the base acute wedge-shaped. The entire margin is finely scabrous, the upper surface finely scabrous and the lower surface glabrous.
Inflorescence
The flowers are solitary or more rarely in groups of 2-3.
Flower
The flowers are borne on separate 5-10 mm long pedicels. The calyx is cupped at the base, topped by 4 triangular lobes, 1 to 1.5 mm long, acuminate at the apex. The corolla is white, sometimes tinged with purple or pink, fused at the base into a tube 1 mm long, topped by 4 triangular lobes 1 to 2 mm long. The throat of the tube is hairless. The 4 stamens are inserted into the tube. The style extends only slightly beyond the corolla tube.
Fruit
The fruit is a subglobose capsule, clearly wider than long, depressed in the middle, with 2 chambers. It is 1.2 to 3 mm long and 3.2 to 5 mm wide, enclosed in the calyx and topped by the 4 lobes. At the top there is a short beak of 1 mm.
Seed
The seeds are 0.3 to 0.4 mm in diameter, angular, highly reticulated and light brown in colour.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Benin: Oldenlandia lancifolia flowers and fruits form April to December.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Distinctive characters of some Oldenlandia species
Biology |
stem | Limbe | Inflorescences | Fruit | Beak | |
annual | angular hairy | broadly elliptical | terminal and axillarys, sessile, 9-25 flowers | subspherical capsule | reduced | O. goreensis |
annual | angular glabrous | elliptical | axillary, pedicellate, 3-5 flowers | ovoid capsule | crest | O. corymbosa |
annual or perennial | angular glabrous | norrowly linear | axillary, pedicellate, 1 flower | subspherical capsule | long 1 mm | O. herbacea |
annual or perennial | cylindrical glabrous | linear | axillary pedicellate, 1 flower | capsule wider than long | long 1 mm | O. lancifolia |
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Benin: O. lancifolia grows in marshes, swampy pastures, temporarily flooded muddy or sandy banks.
French Guiana: Oldenlandia lancifolia is a ruderal species of lowland wetlands. It is also found in wet pastures.
Mauritius: Oldenlandia lancifolia is a weed of wet lowland plots, sugarcane, tea. It is also a ruderal species found on roadsides.
Reunion: Absent
West Indies: Oldenlandia lancifolia grows in wet pastures, riverbanks, especially in shady situations.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Origin
Oldenlandia lancifolia is native to tropical Africa and Madagascar. It is also present in Mauritius but not in Réunion.
Worldwide distribution
This species has been introduced throughout Central America, the northern half of South America and in the Caribbean islands.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
French Guiana: Oldenlandia lancifolia is an infrequent weed in wet pastures and a ruderal species on dykes and paths in the rice-growing area of Mana. It is a fairly frequent weed in vegetable crops and sometimes abundant, forming mats.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Herbarium pictures ReCOLNAT: https://explore.recolnat.org/search/botanique/simplequery=Oldenlandia%2520lancifolia
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Root | Root |
Kingdom | Plantae |
Phylum | Tracheophyta |
Class | Magnoliopsida |
Order | Gentianales |
Family | Rubiaceae |
Genus | Oldenlandia |
Species | Oldenlandia lancifolia (Schumach.) DC. |