7360.000 Platostoma P. Beauv.

Annual or perennial herbs, stems arising from a taproot, slender rhizome or woody rootstock. Leaves opposite, petiolate; upper leaves sometimes basally pale or coloured. Inflorescence lax to dense in more than 3-flowered verticils; bracts usually coloured. Calyx bilabiate, rounded in cross section; upper lip with 1 or 3 lobes. Corolla white, pink or bluish to purple; bilabiate with a short tube, dilating at throat, pubescent to densely villose within; posterior lip erect, median lobes slightly smaller. Fruit consisting of nutlets, black, obovoid, with minute longitudinal ridges; sometimes pubescent at apex; not producing mucilage when wet.

Worldwide: 45 species in the Old World tropics.

Zambia: 5 taxa.