7519.010 Jamesbrittenia Kuntze

Shrubs, suffrutices, perennial or annual herbs, glandular and often aromatic. Leaves opposite, often alternate above, sometimes ± fasciculate, simple or deeply divided. Inflorescence racemose with flowers solitary in axils. Calyx 5-lobed, divided almost to base. Corolla tube always cylindric below, abruptly expanded near apex; in throat a broad transverse band of clavate hairs; lobes spreading. Stamens 4, didynamous; anthers usually included; posticous filaments decurrent down corolla tube, often to base, pubescent. Stigma exserted, usually tongue-shaped, with 2 marginal bands of papillae. Fruit a septicidal capsule. Seeds with reticulate testa.

Derivation of name: The genus was created, in 1891, by Otto Kunze, after James Britten, then Keeper of Botany at the British Museum (NH).

Worldwide: Mainly Africa, from Angola and Zambia southwards, but with one species, J. dissecta, ranging from Egypt and the Sudan to the Indian subcontinent.

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated taxon.