Description: Herbs, annual or biennial. Stems branched from the base up to near the middle.
Leaves basal or cauline, generally longer or equal to the internodes.
Flowers pinkish-purple, sessile to subsessile, in dense spiciform cymes. Calyx with a short tube; calyx lobes generally exceeding the corolla-tube length. Corolla salverform, the lobes shorter than the corolla tube. Stamens inserted at the apex of the corolla.
Capsule elliptic to oblong. Seeds numerous.
Distribution and occurrence: A genus of five species, widely distributed in Eurasia, Africa, Australia, and Pacific.
Australian species of Schenkia are tetraploid species S. australis, Eurasian plants are all diploid.
Text by Louisa Murray
Taxon concept: Taxon 53 (3) 2004
| One species in NSW: Schenkia australis |
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