| General Information |
| Distribution | Native to tropical Africa, widely naturalized.In the Hawaiian Islands,
naturalized on
Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Kaho`olawe, Hawai`i.
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Habit
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Coarse annual herbs; stems 10-25 dm long, deeply furrowed and puberulent.
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Leaves
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Leaves membranous, oblong-ovate to ovate, 4.5-8.5(-12) cm long, 2-5(-9.5) cm wide, lower ones up to ca. 20 cm long and ca. 15 cm wide, both surfaces puberulent, margins coarsely crenate-serrate, apex acute to acuminate, base rounded to truncate, petioles 2-7.5 cm long, those of lower leaves up to ca. 10 cm long.
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Flowers
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Flowers in dense globose verticillasters, 2-8 per stem, bracts linear-lanceolate, apex spinose; calyx 1.2-1.5 cm long, enlarging to 1.5-2.3 cm long in fruit, slightly curved during anthesis, 8-9-toothed, the teeth unequal, spinose, puberulent toward base, becoming hirsute above; corolla orange, 2-2.8 cm long, upper lip arched, 1-1.2 cm long, densely pubescent with orange hairs externally.
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Fruit
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Nutlets dull black, oblong-obovoid, 2.5-4 mm long.
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Chromosomes
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2n = 24, 26, 28
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