''Lobostemon curvifolius'', the largeflower healthbush, is a species of the
forget-me-not family from
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
.
Description
''Lobostemon curvifolius'' is a resprouting shrub which grows up to in height.
[BODATSA: Botanical Collections. v1.4. South African National Biodiversity Institute. Dataset/Occurrence. http://ipt.sanbi.org.za/iptsanbi/resource?r=brahms_online&v=1.4] It is frequently confused with
Lobostemon fruticosus. The leaves are covered in silvery hairs that lie against the surface on both the upper and lower faces. The
midvein is prominent on the underside.
The pointed leaf tips may curve back towards the plant.
Flowers are present between August and November.
The large (greater than ) bell-shaped flowers are borne in compound cincinni with at least three flowers per cymule. The five the sepals are oblong, similar in width and are not fused to each other. The five petals are violet-blue or pink. They are hairy on the outside.
The staminal scales are ridge-like and lack lateral lobes.
They occur well below the throat of the corolla tube, above the base.
Habitat and distribution
This species is restricted to the fynbos region of the Western Cape of South Africa. It is found from
Caledon and Stanford in the
Overberg
__NOTOC__
Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the e ...
region to
Cape Infanta.
It does not appear to be restricted to certain soil types and has been found on sandstone, limestone and sandy flats.
It has been found in a variety of fynbos habitats, including
Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos near
Houw Hoek, Overberg Sandstone Fynbos between Caledon to
Agulhas, Sand Fynbos near
Bredasdorp
Bredasdorp is a town in the Southern Overberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa, and the main economic and service hub of that region. It lies on the northern edge of the Agulhas Plain, about south-east of Cape Town and north of Cape Agu ...
, and De Hoop Limestone Fynbos and Potberg Sandstone Fynbos to the east.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15590696
Boraginaceae
Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces
Plants described in 1837
Fynbos