SANCTULA  Descoings, 1997  (engl./ fr.)

Section Bryophyllum

Distribution : South-eastern Madagascar (region of Taolanaro); wooded hills, sunny places.

Description (by B. Descoings in IHSP, 2003) :

Biennials to perennials, entirely glabrous.

Stems simple, terete, straight, erect, 20 - 50 cm tall, 6 - 10 mm in diameter.

Leaves petiolate, thick, fleshy, yellowish-green with a brownish-red edging along the margins and spots of the same colour beneath near the margins, petiole subterete, slightly widened at the base, 2 - 3 cm, lamina ovate-oblong to ovate-elliptic, 6 - 8 x 3 - 4 cm wide, tip cuneate to ± rounded, base rounded, flat in young leaves, erect to form a large auricle in adult leaves which become almost peltate, margins regularly serrate, with numerous propagules.

Inflorescences many-flowered corymbose cymes, 15 - 20 cm, pedicels slender, curved, 6 - 25 mm.

Flowers pendent, white-yellowish to purplish-blue, calyx tube ± 4-angled, 3.5 - 4 mm, sepals deltoid, acute, 4 - 5 x 2.5 - 3 mm, corolla oblong-cylindrical, tube ± 4-angled, abruptly narrowed towards the lower ½ , 20 - 30 mm, petals obovate, tips rounded-apiculate, 6 - 8 x 4 - 5 mm, stamens slightly exserted

The overall colour of the plants and the beautiful flowers make this a very attractive species, which is moreover of easy cultivation and propagation.

Publié en français dans J. Bot. Soc. Bot. Fr.4 (1997)

Photos by Sven Bernhard