Annual herbs or suffrutices, branched and erect, hairy. Leaves sessile to subsessile, ovate to linear, midrib apparent but lateral veins obscure. Inflorescences erect, sessile to subsessile or pedunculate. Calyx-tube campanulate to subglobose, often distinctly 5-veined; petals shorter than or just exceeding the calyx-lobes, lanceolate to orbicular; margin entire to crenate. Fruit a capsule.
Derivation of name: for Martin Hendrichsen Vahl (1749-1804), Danish-Norwegian botanist and traveller. Worldwide: 5 species in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, Middle East and Asia. Zimbabwe: 4 taxa. |
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