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biodiversity explorer

the web of life in southern Africa

Tribe: Vernonieae

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) > Eudicotyledons > Family: Asteraceae

Nine genera and 77 species are native to southern Africa, two genera and two species are naturalised and an additional genus and two species are cultivated in the region.

Genera native to southern Africa

(based on Herman et al. 2000)

Baccharoides

About 30 species, found in tropical Africa and India; two species in southern Africa.

 

Bothriocline

About 30 species, found in tropical Africa. Bothriocline inyangana (recorded from Zimbabwe, see Flora of Zimbabwe) and Bothriocline laxa (see Flora of Zimbabwe) are the only species in southern Africa.

 

Cyanthillium

Three species, native to tropical Africa, Madagascar and tropical Asia. Cyanthillium vernonioides is native to southern Africa and Cyanthillium cinereum is a pantropical weed that is naturalised in southern Africa.

 

Distephanus

There are 24 species, found in palaeotropical regions, of which four are found in southern Africa.

 

Elephantopus

About 30 species, found in the tropics, of which one Elephantopus scaber is native to southern Africa (recorded from Zimbabwe).

 

Gutenbergia

The 25 species are distributed in tropical Africa, with seven occurring in southern Africa (Zimbabwe and Mozambique).

 

Erlangea

There are about six species, native to tropical Africa, of which four are native to southern Africa, with one species cultivated in the region.

 

Tripteris

Sixteen species native to southern Africa.

 

Vernonia

 There are over 1000 species, almost cosmopolitan, of which 40 species are found in southern Africa.

 

Genera naturalised in southern Africa

(based on Herman et al. 2000)

Centratherum

One species naturalised in southern Africa - Centratherum punctatum (recorded from Zimbabwe). See Flora of Zimbabwe.

 

Ethulia

The 19 species are found mainly in tropical Africa (none native to southern Africa) but also in tropical Asia. Ethulia conyzoides is a weedy species that has become naturalised in southern Africa.

 

Other genera, cultivated in southern Africa

List from Glen (2002). The species name is provided in genera that have only one species cultivated in southern Africa.

Stokesia laevis (Stokes' aster, Stokesia)

Native to south-eastern USA.

 

Publications

  • Herman, P.P.J., Retief, E., Koekemoer, M. & Welman, W.G. 2000. Asteraceae (Compositae). In: Seed Plants of Southern Africa (ed. O.A. Leistner). Strelitzia 10: 101-170. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.