Sonchus bipontini Aschers.

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Picture: Bart Wursten
Kaperekeza road, Nyika National Park

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Synonyms:	Sonchus bequaertii De Wild. Sonchus bipontini Aschers. var. glanduligerus (R.E. Fr.) Robyns
Common names:
Frequency:	Local.
Status:	Native
Description:	A weak-stemmed perennial herb with a semi-woody rootstock. Stems up to c. 3 m long when trailing or scrambling, or up to c. 1.2 m tall when erect, mostly solitary, branched above, very leafy throughout becoming leafless below, sometimes more or less densely glandular-setose above otherwise hairless. Leaves hairless and sessile towards the stem apex, linear-elliptic becoming linear-lanceolate, 5–20 cm long; margin entire or less often with recurved teeth or lobed and shortly auriculate-sagittate at the base. Capitula subsessile or shortly stalked, 2-many together in terminal clusters or in lax heads; mature capitula subtended by 1-several subsessile buds; the bases of the capitula as well as the subtending buds and the capitula stalks clothed in dense white woolly hairs, inflorescence branches, capitula stalks and involucral bracts often more or less densely glandular-setose, sometimes completely without glands. Involucres c. 10–13 mm long in fruiting capitula, cylindric later spreading, phyllaries eventually reflexed. Phyllaries few-seriate, white-woolly outside where exposed, usually also glandular-setose outside. Florets numerous, yellow, c. 10–13 mm long. Achenes reddish-brown, 2.5–3 mm long, narrowly ellipsoid, somewhat flattened, c. 4-angular with ribs on the angles, smaller ribs developing in between, the main ribs becoming thickened and transversely rugulose, hairless; pappus white, dimorphic, c. 11 mm long composed of minutely barbellate setae intermixed with down-like hairs.
Type location:	Ethiopia
Notes:	Although not cited for Zambia in the literature the specimens in the photographs (Iqbal & Wursten AI151 & AI163) were both collected along the Kaperekeza road in Nyika National Park which forms the border between Malawi and Zambia.
Derivation of specific name:
Habitat:	In montane forest, along forest margins and scrub vegetation. Also in disturbed ground.
Altitude range:
Flowering time:
Worldwide distribution:	DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi and Tanzania.
Zambian distribution (Flora Zambesiaca):	E
Zambian distribution (Provinces):
Growth form(s):
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Content last updated:	Wednesday 7 November 2018
Literature:	Pope, G.V. (1992). Compositae Flora Zambesiaca 6(1) Pages 226 - 227.

Other sources of information about Sonchus bipontini:

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Flora of Malawi: Sonchus bipontini

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Sonchus bipontini
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Sonchus bipontini
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Sonchus bipontini
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Sonchus bipontini
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Sonchus bipontini
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Sonchus bipontini
JSTOR Plant Science: Sonchus bipontini
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Sonchus bipontini
Plants of the World Online: Sonchus bipontini
Tropicos: Sonchus bipontini
Wikipedia: Sonchus bipontini