6346.000 Ceratostigma Bunge

Perennial herbs or small shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple. Flowers in 3-bracteate 1–2-flowered spikelets grouped into compact terminal and axillary heads. Calyx tubular, 5-ribbed, somewhat scarious; corolla tubular, with patent limb. Fruit a capsule, membranous, 1-seeded, enclosed in the persistent calyx, dehiscent by splitting into 5 valves at base. Seed dark brown, narrowly ovoid, tapering markedly towards tip.

Derivation of name: Horned stigma; the shape of the stigmatic head

Worldwide: 8 species, extending from NE tropical Africa to China and SE Asia

Zimbabwe: 3 cultivated taxa.