| Struthiola | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Struthiola myrsinites— Gonnabos | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malvales |
| Family: | Thymelaeaceae |
| Subfamily: | Thymelaeoideae |
| Genus: | Struthiola L. (1767) |
| Synonyms [1] | |
BelvalaAdans. (1763) | |
Struthiola is a genus of plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. In habit they are ericoid shrubs or shrublets. The genus includes 31 species native to Africa, which range from Ethiopia to South Africa. [1]
 | This section includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(November 2017) |
There are forty-odd species, mainly South African, mainly occurring in the Western Cape, about 25 endemic to fynbos. Their leaves are usually opposite, but sometimes alternate. Their flowers are sessile and generally solitary, but sometimes in pairs in the axils of the upper leaves. Each flower is accompanied by two ciliate bracteoles. The calyx is roughly cylindrical, with four lobes joined into a tube. The lobes are ovate to linear. There are four or eight or even twelve fleshy, subterete petals (Manning refers to them as petal-scales or petal-like-scales. [2] ) The petals are shorter than the calyx-lobes, and are surrounded by short hairs. There are four stamens arising from deep in throat of calyx-tube. The anthers are subsessile and linear, sometimes with an apical appendage. The ovary has a single loculus with a single glabrous ovule. The style is lateral, with a simple stigma, which is usually penicillate with short hairs. The fruit is small, typically 1–3mm, dry, included in the persistent base of the calyx-tube.
The structure of the fruit in its calyx-remnant has been likened to the beak of a sparrow and gave rise to the name "Struthiola", from the Latin strutheus for a sparrow [3] or strouthos for any small bird. [4]
As usual for such inconspicuous plants, common names are neither very helpful, nor consistent. The name "stroop bossie" ("syrup bush") is locally applied to Struthiola ciliata, [2] suggesting that rural children might have been experimenting with sucking the flowers, but such explanations are necessarily speculative. One or all species are referred to as "gonna", [5] sometimes qualified, for example "soetgonna" (meaning "sweet gonna", for Struthiola dodecandra), or "aandgonna" ("evening gonna", for Struthiola argentea). "Gonna" however, also is variously applied to the recognisably similar genus Passerina and to some other genera in the Thymelaeaceae, such as Dais . So are some other variations such as "ganna", but because they are informal and local, it is not practical to be authoritative about the limits to their correct application. [5]
31 species are accepted. [1]
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Struthiola species are not spectacular plants; in their sparse ericoid habit they are typical of fynbos scrub, though also typically of such scrub, they are very attractive in the fine detail of their flowers and structure.
Curiously, in spite of their modest appearance they have been quietly popular as garden plants, particularly among collectors, perhaps because of their delicate, unexpectedly arresting nocturnal scent. Although some species, such as Struthiola myrsinites, flower quite attractively, the flowering of smaller species is easily overlooked by day, though a single plant can scent a porch on a still, warm night. This is in keeping with their narrow flowers being pollinated by small moths with fine proboscises.
Ochna is a genus comprising 79 species of evergreen trees, shrubs and shrublets belonging to the flowering plant family Ochnaceae. These species are native to tropical woodlands of Africa, Madagascar, the Mascarenes and Asia. Species of this genus are usually called ochnas, bird's-eye bushes or Mickey-mouse plants, a name derived from the shape of the drupelet fruit. The name of this genus comes from the Greek word ὄχνη (ókhnē), used by Theocritus and meaning "wild pear", as the leaves are similar in appearance. Some species, including Ochna integerrima and O. serrulata, are cultivated as decorative plants.
The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera and 898 species. It was established in 1789 by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. The Thymelaeaceae are mostly trees and shrubs, with a few vines and herbaceous plants.
Pimelea, commonly known as rice flowers, is a genus of plants belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae. There are about 150 species, including 110 in Australia and 36 in New Zealand.
Cotyledon is one of some 35 genera of succulent plants in the family Crassulaceae. Mostly from Southern Africa, they also occur throughout the drier parts of Africa as far north as the Arabian Peninsula. Ten of its species are mostly confined to South Africa, where unlike Tylecodon, they occur commonly in both the winter and summer rainfall regions. They may be found on coastal flats and rocky hillsides, or as cremnophytes on cliff faces. Their decussate, evergreen leaves are highly variable in shape, even within some species, but the flowers, apart from colour, are very similar.
Passerina is a genus in the plant family Thymelaeaceae, native to southern Africa. They are ericoid bushes growing largely in fynbos and other Southern African scrub habitats.
Otholobium is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family with over 50 named species, but several also remain undescribed so far. Species may be herbaceous perennials, subshrubs, shrubs or small trees. The alternately set leaves are accompanied by stipules and mostly consist of three leaflets, sometimes just one. The inflorescences are on short or long stalks in the axils of the leaves. Within the inflorescences, the pea-like flowers occur in groups of three, rarely of two, subtended by a bract, and each individual flower also is subtended by a narrow bract. The petals may be white, pink, purple or blue, often with a differently colored nectar guide, that may sometimes even be yellow. The seedpods contain just one, black, dark or light brown seed. Most species are restricted to the Cape provinces of South Africa, but some occur at higher elevations in eastern Africa. Charles Stirton erected the genus in 1981. The species in South America will probably be segregated, because these are not sufficiently related to the African species.
Gnidia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in tropical and southern Africa and Madagascar; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa. Gnidia was named for Knidos, an Ancient Greek city located in modern-day Turkey.
Lapeirousia is a genus in the plant family Iridaceae. It is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, about a third of the species occurring in fynbos.
The plant genus Stilbe was described in 1767, originally as being in the Verbenaceae, but the genus now is placed in the family Stilbaceae. The entire genus is endemic to the Cape Province region of South Africa.
Daphnopsis is a plant genus in the family Thymelaeaceae. It includes 72 species native to the Neotropics. They are shrubs and small trees with tubular or bell-shaped flowers. Individuals are dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate trees.
Struthiola striata is a rounded, heather-like shrub of up to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) high that is assigned to the Thymelaeaceae family. It has small assending leaves on long straight branches, with cream, soft yellow or pinkish flowers in spikes, each of which consist of a tube of about 1 cm (0.39 in) long with 4 oval sepal lobes and 4 yellow alternating petal-like scales. It is sometimes called ribbed capespray or featherhead in English and roemenaggie, katstertjie or veërtjie in Afrikaans. It grows on coastal flats and foothills in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Struthiola tetralepis is a willowy shrublet of up to 30 cm (0.98 ft) high that is assigned to the family Thymelaeaceae. It has long straight branches that are initially hairy and are covered in leaves pressed against them. These leaves are small, overlapping, lance-shaped, sharply pointed, have a regular row of hairs along the margins, and 3-5 veins are visible on the outward facing surface. It has initially greenish yellow, later reddish brown flowers, each of which consists of a tube of about 1 cm (0.39 in) long with 4 lance-shaped, pointed sepal lobes and 4 yellow alternating petal-like scales. It flowers between October and February. It can be found in the southwest of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is sometimes called cross capespray in English.
Lachnaea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae, found in the Cape Floristic Region of southern South Africa. They tend to be small ericoid shrubs.
Lasiosiphon is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae.
Dais is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is also part of the Gnidia subfamily, along with Gnidia, Drapetes, Kelleria, Pimelea, Struthiola, Lachnaea and Passerina, other genera of species). It is distributed between Tanzania to S. Africa, Madagascar. It is native to the countries of Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and it is also found within several Provinces of South Africa, such as Cape Provinces, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Provinces.
Selago thomii is a species of plant in the family Scrophulariaceae. It is endemic to the Western Cape, South Africa.