Hebenstretia

Hebenstretia is a genus of annual and perennial herbs as well as some undershrubs. They form part of the Scrophulariaceae or snapdragon family and are commonly called slugworts or slakblomme (snail flowers) in Afrikaans. Many hebenstretias are hairy.

The simple, mostly narrow leaves are alternate, although some have lower leaves that are opposite. Smaller leaves may be clustered in leaf axils, appearing fascicled. Leaf margins are entire or toothed.

The sessile flowers grow in short or long, sometimes branched spikes, usually dense and erect. There are bracts just below the calyces, often overlapping and sometimes taller than the calyces. The calyces are boat-shaped, sometimes notched but not lobed and joined to bracts. The one-lipped and conspicuously four-lobed corollas have slender, funnel-shaped tubes. The lobed limb of the corolla is flat or concave, bearded or hairless. Its lobes are equal, or the outer two may be larger and the inner ones sometimes joined. In some species there is a tiny fifth lobe in the fissure of the corolla tube. 

There are four stamens in a flower that arise on the margin of the fissure below the lobes, or deeper inside the tube. There is often a nectary at the base of the superior ovary that has two locules. The style is shorter than the corolla tube, but exserted through a slit in its side.

The fruit is an oblong, ovoid or rarely round capsule.

There are about twenty five Hebenstretia species, all occurring in southern Africa, several in the summer rainfall area, while Hebenstretia robusta, H. cordata, H. dentata and H. repens are examples of Western Cape species (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Manning, 2009).