Launaea rarifolia
Launaea rarifolia (Oliv. & Hiern) Boulos
Launaea rarifolia is a perennial herb in the Asteraceae family, native to various regions in Africa, including Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and Madagascar. It has a thick, fleshy rootstock and a short, woody caudex. The plant grows to a height of 10-80 cm and is often leafless at the time of flowering. It produces one or more delicate, erect flowering stems and a basal rosette of leaves that appear after flowering.
Description
Launaea rarifolia has white latex that turns yellow when exposed. Rosette leaves are 3-30 mm long and obovate or spathulate, with entire to sinuate-dentate margins. Cauline leaves are reduced to small triangular bracts. The synflorescence is richly branched, with pedunculate capitula developing from accessory buds. Capitula contain 7-14 flowers, with a receptacle of 0.8-1.4 mm in diameter. The involucre is long and slender, often purple-tinted, and becomes narrowly clavate at anthesis. Peduncles are 0.5-3.5 mm long and bear 0-2 bracts. This species was described in 1962 by Boulos, based on earlier work by Oliv. & Hiern.
Distribution
Tanzania · Sierra Leone · Gauteng · Benin · Angola · Mozambique · Ghana · Mpumalanga · Mali · Burundi · Kenya · Rwanda · Zambia · Sudan · Madagascar · Namibia · Nigeria · Zaire · Malawi · Ethiopia · Northern Province · Zimbabwe · Central African Republic · Ivory Coast · Uganda · Cameroon · North-West Province · NA · Botswana · Cape Provinces
Synonyms
Lactuca stenocephalaLactuca varianiiSonchus verdickiiLaunaea fischeriSonchus laniferSonchus fischeriLaunaea macraLaunaea paucifloraSonchus pauciflorusLactuca paucifloraLaunaea macerLactuca welwitschiiSonchus welwitschiiBrachyramphus nudicaulisSonchus rarifoliusSonchus macerSonchus welwitschii
