Stilbe

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Lamiales

Familia: Stilbaceae
Tribus: Stilbeae
Genus: Stilbe
Species: S. albiflora – S. ericoides – S. gymnopharyngia – S. overbergensis – S. rupestris – S. serrulata – S. vestita
Name

Stilbe P.J.Bergius, Descr. Pl. Cap. 30. t. 4. (1767)

Type species: Stilbe vestita P.J.Bergius, Descr. Pl. Cap. 30. (1767)

Synonyms

Heterotypic
Eurylobium Hochst.
Luehea F.W.Schmidt, Neue u. Selt. Pfl. 23 (1793) non Luehea Willd., Ges. Naturf. Freunde Berlin Neue Schriften 3: 410. (1801) nom. cons. (Malvaceae)
Xeroplana Briq.

References

Bergius, P.J. 1767. Descriptiones Plantarum ex Capite Bonae Spei 30.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Stilbe in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Oct. 30. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2021. Stilbe. Published online. Accessed: Oct. 30 2021.
Tropicos.org 2021. Stilbe. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Oct. 30.

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.[1][2][3]

All the species are ericoid shrublets, endemic to fynbos areas. Their leaves are crowded into whorls and may be erect or reflexed. Their margins are revolute. The flowers are bisexual and set in the axils of bracts, with two narrow bracteoles. They are borne in short, dense terminal spikes. The calyx may be tubular or divided. The corolla is funnel-shaped with lobes about as long as the tube, often with a ring of white hairs in the throat, but hairless outside. There are four stamens inserted in the corolla-mouth. The ovary is entire, with two loculi, though they are not always well separated. There is a single, erect ovule in each loculus; the style is terete and the stigma simple, though sometimes slightly bifid at the tip. The fruit is oblong, enclosed in the calyx. Corresponding to the structure of the ovary, the fruit is generally two-lobed and two-locular, but sometimes by abortion, there may be only one locule and one seed. The seed is indehiscent and its testa is reticulated.

There are about half a dozen species of Stilbe and each occurs in limited areas in the fynbos extending from about Clanwilliam to Riversdale. They are elegant, sclerophyllous plants, with usually more than one stem and decorative flowering spikes, but they are not showy. Accordingly, they are of so little horticultural interest that they are not mentioned in the remarkably compendious Royal Horticultural Dictionary of Gardening[4]

Species[1]

Stilbe albiflora
Stilbe ericoides
Stilbe gymnopharyngia
Stilbe overbergensis
Stilbe rupestris
Stilbe serrulata
Stilbe vestita

formerly included

now in Campylostachys Kogelbergia

Stilbe cernua - Campylostachys cernua
Stilbe chorisepala - Kogelbergia verticillata
Stilbe mucronata - Kogelbergia verticillata
Stilbe mucronata var. cuspidata - Kogelbergia verticillata
Stilbe phylicoides - Kogelbergia phylicoides
Stilbe procumbens - Cephalanthus procumbens
Stilbe verticillata - Kogelbergia verticillata
Stilbe verticillata var. cuspidata - Kogelbergia verticillata

References

Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
Bergius, Peter Jonas. 1767. Descriptiones plantarum ex Capite Bonae Spei 30
Tropicos, Stilbe Berg.
Chittenden, Fred J. Ed., Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening, Oxford 1951