828.000 Eriocaulon L.

Description of the genus

Annual or perennial herbs. Involucral bracts scarious to coriaceous, spreading to reflexed at maturity. Floral bracts often white-hairy towards the tip. Flowers borne on a central receptacle; male and female mixed or female around the edge. Sepals free or ± connate in male flowers, usually free in the female. Petals usually with a black gland near or at the tip, often white-hairy at the tip. Male petals all small or one enlarged and exserted. Male flowers with stamens (in our species) 6 or 4, twice as many as the petals; anthers black or white. Female flowers with petals free. Seeds ellipsoid, smooth or distinctively patterned.

Derivation of name: from Greek: erion meaning wool, caulos meaning stem

Worldwide: c. 400 species in tropical and warm regions of the world; some temperate.

Botswana: 6 taxa.

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Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
abyssinicum Hochst.SEDescription, Image
cinereum R. Br.N
setaceum L.N
stenophyllum R.E. Fr. NDescription, Image
transvaalicum N.E. Br. subsp. transvaalicum SE
welwitschii RendleN

Other sources of information about Eriocaulon:

Our websites:

Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Eriocaulon
Flora of Malawi: Eriocaulon
Flora of Mozambique: Eriocaulon
Flora of Zambia: Eriocaulon
Flora of Zimbabwe: Eriocaulon

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Eriocaulon
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Eriocaulon
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Eriocaulon
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Eriocaulon
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Eriocaulon
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Eriocaulon
JSTOR Plant Science: Eriocaulon
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Eriocaulon
Plants of the World Online: Eriocaulon
Tropicos: Eriocaulon
Wikipedia: Eriocaulon

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2014-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Botswana: Genus page: Eriocaulon.
https://www.botswanaflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=312, retrieved 28 March 2024

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