Manulea

Manulea is a genus of annual and perennial herbs, as well as a few shrubs in the Scrophulariaceae family.

The usually hairy, sometimes glandular hairy stems are leafy, or the leaves are only at the base. The non-glandular hairs often have large single cells at their tips. The stem-leaves are usually opposite and connected at the base. Leaf margins may be lobed or toothed.

The inflorescences are racemes, thyrses or panicles. There are small or leaf-like bracts at the pedicel bases. The calyces are two-lipped, the upper lips two-lobed, the lower three-lobed. The variously shaped lobes are usually hairy, at least along their margins.

The corollas are two-lipped and five-lobed, the tubes nearly cylindrical and abruptly widening in the upper parts, in some cases funnel-shaped. The corolla mouths are round, oblique or laterally compressed. The upper lip is three-lobed, the lower one two-lobed (opposite to the calyx lobing).

There are four stamens, sometimes three or two with two staminodes. There is a nectary next to the ovary that has two locules. The stigma is tongue-shaped and may be exserted.

The fruit is a capsule that splits at its tip. The seeds are white, violet or blue and pitted.

There are about 74 Manulea species in India and southern Africa, mostly in the Western Cape. The plant in picture is Manulea tomentosa (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000).