''Pechuel-loeschea'', (common names; stinkbush,Umberto Quattrocchi sweatbush, or bitterbos,) is a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n plants in the elecampane tribe within the

sunflower family Asteraceae () is a large family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger fam ...

, and named after the German plant collector and geographer

Eduard Pechuël-Loesche Moritz Eduard Pechuël-Loesche, (26 July 1840, Zöschen – 29 May 1913, Munich), was a German naturalist, geographer, ethnologist, painter, traveler, author, plant collector and Professor of Geography in Jena and Erlangen. Eduard was the eldest ...

(1840-1913). The only known species is ''Pechuel-loeschea leubnitziae'', (or 'wild sage') which is native to

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and the Cape Provinces and the Northern Provinces, (in

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 ...

). The Latin

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

of ''leubnitziae'' refers to Leubnitzia, the maiden name of Pechuel-Loesche's wife.

Description

Strongly aromatic shrubby

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

herb. It grows up to tall. Most parts are densely grey-velvety and with short glandular hairs. It has alternately arranged leaves, which are (sub)sessile (without a leaf stalk). They are narrowly obovate-elliptic in shape and about long and 0.7 cm wide. They are velvety-grey on both leaf surfaces with a midrib prominent also on both surfaces. The margin is entire (smooth). It blooms between March and July. It has a capitula (a dense cluster of sessile or subsessile flowers) which are terminal (at the end) of 1-3 in the leaf axils. They more or less funnel-shaped and up to 1.3 cm long. The involucral scales (surround the flower head) are greyish glandular and hairy. The florets are purple with the central ray florets absent.

Habitat

It is found growing in alkaline and sandy soils in dry wooded

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

or open woodland. It is often found in large amount growing along roadsides and disturbed areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q7158702, from2=Q15582977 Monotypic Asteraceae genera Inuleae Flora of Southern Africa Flora of Angola Flora of Zimbabwe