8751.000 Vernonia Schreb.

CYANTHILLIUM Blume

GYMNANTHEMUM Cass.

HILLIARDIELLA H. Rob.

LINZIA Sch. Bip. ex Walp.

ORBIVESTUS H. Rob.

POLYDORA Fenzl

VERNONIASTRUM H. Rob.

Herman, P.P.J. & Swelankomo, N. (2011) Vernonia (Tribe Vernonieae) and related genera in Southern Africa: updates and corrections Bothalia 41(1) 176-178

Wild, H. (1978) The Compositae of the Flora Zambesiaca area. 8. Vernonieae (Vernonia). Kirkia 11(1) 31-127

Description of the genus

Annual or perennial herbs (often with annual stems from woody rootstocks), small to large shrubs, woody scramblers or small trees. Leaves alternate, simple. Capitula homogamous, discoid; florets normally bisexual and fertile. Phyllaries free in 2-many series, imbricate. Corolla various shades of purple, blue, or creamy-white, regularly 5-lobed. Pappus 2-seriate with an outer short whorl of scales or setae and an inner whorl of longer setae.

Derivation of name: Named after William Vernon, English botanist of the late 17th century.

Worldwide: c. 1,000 species in warm and tropical regions of the Old World and America

Caprivi: 10 cultivated taxa.

The larvae of the following species of insect eat species of this genus:
Basiotha schenckii (Brown-striped hawk)
Vernonia turbinella

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

SpeciesContent
congolensis De Wild. & Muschl.
griseopapposa G.V.Pope
guineensis Benth.
ischnophylla Muschl.
melanocoma C.Jeffrey
miombicola Wild
praecox Welw. ex O.Hoffm.
schweinfurthii Oliv. & Hiern
sengana S.Moore
turbinella S.Moore Description, Image

Other sources of information about Vernonia:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Vernonia
Flora of Caprivi: Vernonia
Flora of Malawi: Vernonia
Flora of Mozambique: Vernonia
Flora of Zambia: Vernonia
Flora of Zimbabwe: Vernonia

External websites:

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

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 Caprivi: Cultivated plants: genus page: Vernonia.
https://www.capriviflora.com/cult/genus.php?genus_id=1464, retrieved 29 April 2024

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