Gnidia

Gnidia is a genus of shrublets and shrubs, often ericoid, in the Thymelaeaceae or Daphne family. The generic name, Gnidia, is probably derived from Knidos, an ancient Greek port, today the city of Cumali in Anatolian Turkey, where plants grew reminding of some Gnidia species. 

Some of the species grow from rhizomes. The simple leaves may be alternate or opposite, usually stalkless.

The inflorescences are usually stem-tip heads or clusters, although some have solitary flowers or short spikes. Bracts are sometimes present. Flower colour is usually white, cream or yellow.

The calyx is the main visible floral part, a cylindrical or narrowly bell-shaped, usually hairy tube that is often bent near its base. The calyx tube ends in four or five lobes, sometimes with petal-like scales immediately above the mouth. These scales occur in the same number, double or triple as many as the calyx lobes. They are either flat or cylindrical and membranous or fleshy, resembling petals but always smaller than the lobes.

There are usually twice as many stamens as calyx lobes, positioned in two series of unequal length. The superior ovary has one locule containing one ovule. The style is inside the tube on the side. The stigma is simple, flattened, two-lobed or with a tuft of tiny protrusions (penicillate). The flowers are often fragrant at night, mostly pollinated by moths.

The dry fruit is enclosed in the persistent calyx base, the seeds small.

There are about 130 Gnidia species, but the number has fluctuated considerably early in the twenty first century with the separation of species into for instance the Lasiosiphon genus. The plants occur in Africa, Asia and on Madagascar, about 74 of them in southern Africa.

Several species have been or are used in traditional medicine in the treatment of a wide range of ailments. Some species yielded arrow poison in the past, while some are toxic to stock, although others are browsed to some extent.

The plant in picture was seen at Kagga Kamma in September, resembling Gnidia anomala and not narrow-leaved enough for G. leipoldtii (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Wikipedia; http://pza.sanbi.org).