Description
This species is a perennial herb with a straggling habit, becoming somewhat shrubby with age, flowering early and developing a small rootstock with several ascending stems up to 0.2–1.5 m (0.66–4.92 ft) tall; not or only weakly aromatic. Stems are erect, square, usually well branched, and hairy, especially along the angles and towards the tips. [2]
Leaves are stalked, ovate to elliptic, mostly 1–4 cm (0.39–1.57 in) long (larger in shaded plants), with toothed margins and variable hairiness, particularly along the veins beneath. [2]
The inflorescence soon becomes lax, with small flower clusters spaced 8–14 mm (0.31–0.55 in) apart. The calyx is distinctive, purple on the upper side and green below, about 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long at flowering and elongating to 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) in fruit. [2]
The corolla is usually pink, occasionally white or mauve, 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) long, with a straight tube and a hooded lower lip enclosing the stamens. [2]
Nutlets are small, brown, broadly egg-shaped, about 0.9–1.2 mm (0.035–0.047 in) long, and produce a small amount of mucilage when wet. [2]
Identification
Orthosiphon thymiflorus is closely related to Orthosiphon schimperi . In eastern Africa, the former species can be distinguished by, among other things, its calyx, the upper lip of which is purple, while the lower lip is green. The latter species has a calyx of a uniform purple–red. (This distinction may not hold in other regions.) [2]
Some South African sources currently maintain Orthosiphon suffrutescens as a separate species, but most authorities consider it a synonym of Orthosiphon thymiflorus. [3]
Distribution and habitat
Orthosiphon thymiflorus is recorded from Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, the Central African Republic, southeast China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Java, Kenya, Laos, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the South African provinces of the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and the North West. It grows in wooded grassland and bushland and more open, drier forests. [1] [2]
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